Chelsea 1 Olympique Marseille 0

Chelsea only got half way through this game and were lucky to survive a spirited assault on their goal in the closing stages as OM took over the match and all but knocked the London club out of the Champions League.

Chelsea were saved by Dennis Wise's first half goal and some frantic defending as desire took over from skill in th face of OM's fight back. In the end the Premiership side made very hard work of this win.

Tore Andre Flo set up the goal in the 26th minute as Trevisan was starting to look unbeatable. Flo's wide runs out to the left were a feature of the first half and he cut back inside to drop a cross onto the head of Gianfranco Zola who struggled to reach thee ball.

Zola nodded the cross down and it struck Gustavo Poyet a glancing blow before Wise collected the ball and drove it wide of the Marseille goalkeeper.

Stamford Bridge celebrated in relief.

Trevisan had defied Celestine Babayaro with a near impossible save in the 13th minute after Poyet had guided a header into the path of the Nigerian left back. In front of goal Babayaro - returning to the side after his longer than scheduled absence at the African nations Cup - stooped to drive a header into goal only to find Trevisan diving back after following the ball to the other side of goal and clawing the ball back from the goal line.

Gianfranco Zola described Trevisan's save in the dying seconds of last week's game from a Poyet header as the greatest he had ever seen and the Frenchman looked on similar form in this game.

Trevisan charged from goal several times to cut off Chelsea attacks and flattened Flo on a through run in the 41st minute with a dangerously high tackle that caught the Norwegian in the face. No decision was given against the French side who threated to score several times in the first session. A Ferrer deflection prevented Leroy from driving the ball into the net in the 35th minute after Ibrahima Bakayoko had driven in a low cross from the right. Bakayoko clashed with Frank Lebouef in the 37th minute after a tackle and jumped up from the ground to flatten the Chelsea man with a two handed push but Lebouef was booked despite the retaliation.

Bakayoko forced a diving save from De Goey in the 34th minute after the Chelsea defence had let the ball run loose and Pouget fired wide after a similar lapse in concentration by the Chelsea back line.

The second half was marked by symptoms of Gianfranco Zola's continuing problems in front of goal and then dominated by OM.

Zola was put clear twice on the French target but hesitated rather than shoot. Two years ago he was unafraid to lash in shots from distance but now he delays and defenders close down the space available to him.

Chelsea offered little to advance their lead in thee second session other than Zola misfires.

OM came storming into the game with twenty minutes to go and completely dominated after Ivan De La Pena entered the action as a substitute. He ran the game and sent in a soaring free kick in the 81st minute which crashed against the Chelsea right post from 35 meters away. By then the London club were surrendering possession and almost the lead. De La Pena had set up Abardanardo with an overhead flick but the defender skied his chance and Chelsea's nerves were evident for all to see.

Le Roy forced a fine diving save from De Goey when he chested the ball into the air and met it with a bicycle kick to send it at the target but the Dutchman palmed the shot away.

With De Goey beaten and the goal facing him with 92 minutes gone Ibrahima Bakayoko was clear on the left hand side of the area but screwed his shot across the face of goal and inches wide of the far post and Chelsea could celebrate the victory and leadership of Group D with some relief. Judging by their second half showing OM will play worse than this and win games and Chelsea really were desperate to hang on at the end.