Jose Mourinho is in the unaccustomed position of having to put on a brave face after a fortnight of reverses culminated in Chelsea's first league defeat in 41 games.
The super-confident Portuguese boss pronounced himself "not afraid of the future" following Manchester United's 1-0 victory at Old Trafford which came hard on the heels of Chelsea's Champions League defeat at Real Betis.
Mourinho and his Roman Abramovich-bankrolled squad of top international talent are treading on unfamiliar ground, however.
Chelsea had notched nine victories in a row from the start of the season before bottom club Everton held them to a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park on October 23.
There followed an ignominious penalties exit at home to Charlton from the League Cup, a trophy they won last season.
Three days later, their much vaunted defence, backed by Petr Cech between the posts and which broke records for its impregnability last season, conceded two goals for the first time since December last year against Arsenal.
They went on to beat Blackburn Rovers 4-2 but, on November 1, went down 1-0 in Seville to a Spanish side they had trounced 4-0 only two weeks before.
A fortnight ago many thought Chelsea's progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League a formality. Today they find themselves in a three-horse race in their group with Liverpool and Betis and needing points from their last two games.
It is only the second time since Mourinho arrived at Chelsea after winning the Champions League with Porto, that they have lost two games on the trot. The last time was in February when they stumbled 1-0 in the FA Cup at Newcastle before losing the first leg of a Champions League tie that they went on to win against Barcelona.
SPECIAL ONE
Their previous league defeat dates back to October 16 2004, at Manchester City and Chelsea went on to win the championship by a margin of 12 points last season.
Mourinho, the self-styled "special one", has suffered two defeats in a row on four occasions in his five-year managerial career, the other two were with Uniao Leiria in 2001 and Porto in 2002.
He has never lost twice in succession in the league.
The rest of the Premier League may have sighed collectively with relief at Chelsea, and Mourinho's, recent fallibility.
There have even been mutterings in the British press of unrest in the London side's tight ranks with reports of tension between Mourinho and injury prone winger Arjen Robben as well as unsettled Argentine striker Hernan Crespo.
Mourinho will doubtless use all his famous psychology and motivational skills over the next few games, though his attempts to reinforce an esprit de corps will be delayed this week by international fixtures with most of his multi-national squad dispersed.
He has started already, talking up his side's performance immediately after the game at Old Trafford, saying he was proud of his players who would stay calm and confident.
"This was a game we did not deserve to lose," he said "I hope they [United] can realise why Chelsea are champions, top of the league and I believe we will be champions again."
A six-point cushion over surprise second-placed Wigan could be reduced to three if the promoted side win their game in hand. United in third are still 10 points adrift and Arsenal lie a point behind, both with an extra game to play.
While few would bet against Chelsea winning the title again the Londoners' blip will give their rivals heart.
It is Mourinho's job to quash such hopes and he insisted others would eagerly swap places with Chelsea given the chance.
"We are not under pressure now," he said.
