Portsmouth’s fate is creeping up on them. This draw means that their relegation from the Premier League will be confirmed should West Ham beat Everton tomorrow. Such an outcome is unlikely but cannot be ruled out by Avram Grant’s side given the torment this season is continuing to bring them.

Having had to deal with a farcical change of owners, a plunge into the administration and subsequent docking of points, the club is now also running out of players, with 14 unavailable to Grant ahead of this game, mainly due to injury. Given such a handicap, it was perhaps admirable that the hosts should prove so competitive here against opponents who came into the match buoyed by a 1-0 victory over bitter rivals Burnley the previous week.

Portsmouth’s supporters will have certainly been surprised by the point gained by their side. Fearing the worst, only 16,207 turned up to Fratton Park, Portsmouth lowest attendance since they gained promotion to the Premier League in 2003. Some of those who did show were also somewhat darkly dressed in T-shirts promoting ‘Portsmouth’s relegation party.’

The majority, it has to be said, were in good voice and instead celebrated in song their club’s participation in next week’s FA Cup semi-finals. The side may well be travelling to Wembley as a Championship club but will, nevertheless, go in decent heart following there display here.

Portsmouth were the better side for the majority of this rather uninspiring encounter with Jamie O’Hara a key figure in their attack. Indeed, it was that player, featuring at the front-tip of Portsmouth’s midfield diamond, who had the side’s best chance of the match, a header from John Utaka’s cross on 28 minutes that had to be hacked off the line by Gael Givet.

Blackburn’s best effort of the match came right at the end of the first-half when Christopher Samba, finding himself completely unmarked in the Portsmouth area, headed Morten Gamst Pedersen’s free-kick onto the base of the far post.

The second-half was a rather tetchy affair, the only standout moment of which was the sending-off Portsmouth’s Belgian full-back Anthony Vanden Borre for two bookable offences.

The hosts stood strong, however, with 10 men to eke out their first clean sheet in 15 matches. Next up, Wembley.

Premier LeaguePortsmouthBlackburn RoversSachin Nakraniguardian.co.uk

There was a time when numerous pundits predicted that England’s 2010 World Cup campaign would be constructed around David Dunn’s vision and creativity.

Those days are long gone and such opinions quietly forgotten. Should Dunn journey to South Africa this summer, it will be as a tourist rather than a member of Fabio Capello’s squad but, as Birmingham City discovered to their cost, the Blackburn Rovers midfielder is far from a spent force.

On an evening illuminated by two of the Premier League’s more mercurial talents, Dunn and Birmingham’s James McFadden, the former scored twice and had another effort disallowed, while the Scot also struck with a venomous free kick.

Dangerous as he was though the Birmingham forward could not quite do enough to prevent his suddenly plateau-ing side slipping to another defeat as Blackburn took a major stride toward banishing any lingering relegation fears.

Sam Allardyce is a little miffed with those Rovers fans who appeal in vain for him to configure his team in a reassuringly attack-minded 4-4-2 formation. “You get this 4-4-2 rubbish,” he snorted on the eve of this match. “But it is an antiquated system. Why should we play two up front? It doesn’t work in the Premier League anymore.”

And it only took five minutes before Dunn’s scoring burst from the home midfield quintet served to vindicate his manager’s case. When a long forward punt was controlled superbly on the chest by Nikola Kalinic – who did well to hold off Birmingham’s Roger Johnson – Dunn accelerated into the area before half-volleying Kalinic’s ball beyond Joe Hart with his left foot.

For a short spell after that Dunn’s old team looked distinctly wobbly but, gradually, McLeish’s players pulled themselves together. Indeed Jason Brown, deputising for the injured Paul Robinson in Blackburn’s goal, seemed under peril from a deceptively curving, slightly deflected McFadden strike but the understudy proved equal to the challenge, saving brilliantly.

McFadden’s clever movement saw Allardyce’s centre halves – Chris Samba and the 18-year-old Phil Jones – frequently pulled all over the place. Not about to be upstaged, however, Dunn continued to exert a similar effect on Birmingham’s defence. So much so that he started celebrating a second goal after another late dash into the box, followed by another half volley which went in off the underside of the bar. This time, though, his effort was disallowed for a foul in the build-up.

Furious with his team-mate Míchel Salgado for what he clearly regarded as the totally unnecessary tug responsible for seeing a fine finish chalked off, Dunn exchanged some harsh words and displayed hostile body language with Blackburn’s right back as the teams trooped off for half-time.

Altercation over, both protagonists reappeared for the second half, only for McFadden to steal some of Dunn’s limelight. When Birmingham won a free-kick just outside the area following Morten Gamst Pedersen’s foul on Johnson it seemed ideally positioned for delivery by the forward’s left foot. And a swipe of that boot from McFadden sent the ball arcing over Blackburn’s non-existent wall before dropping perfectly into the far bottom corner. Apparently transfixed, Brown did not move, remaining rooted to his line at the near post.

A gauntlet had been thrown down and, when El Hadji Diouf whipped in a corner, Dunn threw himself forward to head beyond Joe Hart from close range.

Premier LeagueBlackburn RoversBirmingham CityLouise Taylorguardian.co.uk

Do Chelsea have the best players in the country, or merely the best paid? The question with which Roman Abramovich is said to have confronted his team after their elimination from the Champions League is manna from heaven for media studies classes and pub knowalls everywhere and their verdicts will be even more damning after this latest disappointment.

Arsenal won on Saturday to take over pole position in the title race and Manchester United displaced them at lunchtime today, and it was up to Chelsea to respond. But for the second time in six days they were found wanting.

They threw away a winning position at a rain-swept Ewood Park and are left third, four points adrift of United and two behind Arsène Wenger’s resurgent Gunners. They should get back on track at Portsmouth on Wednesday, but their destiny is no longer in their own hands.

Before this, they took comfort in the fact that if they won all their remaining games they would be champions, regardless of what the others could accomplish. That no longer applies, and Carlo Ancelotti’s expression was more hangdog than ever tonight when, pointedly, the Italian did not gainsay the suggestion that United were now favourites to retain their Premier League crown.

If the result against Internazionale was job-threatening, this one will not have improved the Chelsea manager’s standing with Abramovich and company. The statistics are beginning to look ominous. Of their last 11 matches in all competitions, starting with an unimpressive 1-1 draw at Hull City, Chelsea have won five and lost four, and of their last eight away games in the Premier League they have won just two. By Ancelotti’s own admission, they have lost their confidence. “It’s not an easy moment for us and we have to maintain our confidence and our composure,” he said.

The Italian eschewed wholesale changes after Internazionale, dropping only his left‑back, Yury Zhirkov, in favour of Paolo Ferreira. If the Russian suspected he had been made a scapegoat, he did not have long to let the feeling fester. Branislav Ivanovic, injured in a collision with El‑Hadji Diouf, had to go off just before half-time and Zhirkov came on, with Ferreira switching to the right.

The other absentee from last Tuesday, Michael Ballack, was said to be “not 100% fit” and gave way to Salomon Kalou. Neither Petr Cech nor Hilario were deemed ready to return, so Ross Turnbull, the third‑choice keeper, was in goal for his third game in succession.

Blackburn were well below optimum strength, injuries depriving them of their England goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, the captain, Ryan Nelsen, and another centre-back, Gaël Givet, among others. There was a Premier League debut in central defence for the 18‑year‑old Phil Jones, who could be well satisfied with a steady, no-frills introduction to the big time which brought him the man of the match award and ridiculously premature comparisons with John Terry.

Chelsea were glad to see the back of Robinson, whose shoot-out heroics put them out of the Carling Cup in the quarter-finals in December. His understudy, Jason Brown, was picking the ball out of the back of his net after only six minutes.

Nicolas Anelka motored down the right before delivering a left-footed cutback which Didier Drogba coolly passed low inside the near post, also with his left foot, from 13 yards for his 28th goal of the season.

Slicing through Rovers almost at will, Chelsea should have had the issue settled by half-time, but Kalou met Frank Lampard’s right-wing cross with a feeble header and Florent Malouda shot straight at Brown when a yard to either side would surely have produced a goal.

The possibility that Chelsea might rue such opportunities spurned was underlined at the start of the second half, when it took a goal-line clearance by Zhirkov to prevent Christopher Samba from equalising with a close-range header. It proved to be the case after 70 minutes, with another header. The finish was applied from six yards by Diouf, who climbed above Ferreira at the far post to nod home Michel Salgado’s inviting cross from the right for only his third goal of the season.

So comfortable and assured before the interval, Chelsea had lost their shape and composure. Drogba, attacking a Deco corner, brought a noteworthy save from Brown near the end, but Rovers had the better of the second half and deserved a result which keeps them ahead of the relegation pack.

Premier LeagueBlackburn RoversChelseaJoe Lovejoyguardian.co.uk