Chelsea have not been the nation's darlings for quite some time. The country has had a soft spot for them now and again but it is 39 years since the public was so indulgent that it swept Blue Is The Colour to No5 in the charts. The degree of fondness for a club can often be in inverse proportion to the wealth of the owner, so people at large will not be doting on them in the foreseeable future.

Nonetheless, the Premier League needs a side who believe they can grapple successfully with Manchester United. There is a chance of Manchester City taking that role but the inability to win after holding the lead against Fulham suggests Roberto Mancini does not yet have a lineup with enough consistency.

The manager knew perfectly well that it was essential to be more adventurous if the major trophies were to be pursued but it is still important to exercise control. At Liverpool, the sense of resurgence has vanished in the past couple of weeks. Arsenal are in distress. It would seem that Chelsea are best placed to ensure that there are still the occasional twinges of anxiety at Old Trafford.

The reputation of the Premier League would suffer if an entire season had to be spent in nothing more than contemplation of the finesse and thoroughness with which Sir Alex Ferguson has reshaped United so swiftly. André Villas-Boas, his opposite number at Stamford Bridge, is therefore an even more important figure than he would have been simply for the prominence that comes with the job.

Since José Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007, only one person has held the post for an entire season. Indeed, Carlo Ancelotti has the distinction of surviving two complete campaigns. Chelsea seem more measured in their policy at present. The proprietor, Roman Abramovich, can surely not have settled on Villas‑Boas without steeling himself to be slightly more patient.

At 33, the Portuguese is both phenomenon and, to an extent, novice, although his time on Mourinho's backroom staff at Porto, Internazionale and Chelsea would have been educational. His expertise was confirmed more through the victories in last season's Europa League ties with Villarreal and Sevilla than in the final itself, where Braga were beaten 1-0.

Villas-Boas now undertakes a larger project. It is a task that calls for delicacy. He cannot adopt drastic measures when a degree of continuity is vital to any bid for honours. However, the manager may have no choice but to make headlines in some areas. There is, after all, an inherent difficulty in counting on a box-to-box midfielder who has turned 33.

Frank Lampard did not last beyond the interval in the 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford. He will have noticed a trend. Fabio Capello allowed him the closing 10 minutes against Bulgaria and then substituted him against Wales, when it was deemed that Scott Parker was necessary to see out a 1-0 win. The fact that Nicolas Anelka, Lampard's replacement in the match with United, is just a year younger underlines the nature of the project before Villas‑Boas. Had Didier Drogba, 33, not been sidelined since his concussion in the match with Norwich, the mature tone could have been even more marked.

The new manager, with all his youth and hope, will have been given the post because he looks equipped with the freshness and energy to restructure the squad. That mission is already in process, with Juan Mata, 23, starting against United, the 18-year-old Romelu Lukaku coming on, and Oriol Romeu, 19, among the unused substitutes. Villas-Boas has acted as if he expects to be shown patience but such a sensible approach is always likely to be abandoned if results go too far wrong at a club with grand ambitions.

Chelsea need someone to lift the spirits. Oddly enough, Fernando Torres may have to be press-ganged into the role. He might have notched only his second goal for the club since the £50m transfer from Liverpool in January but it was taken with an efficiency at Old Trafford that very nearly made the shot he later put wide while looking at the unattended posts an aberration rather than a sign of continuing fragility in the Spaniard's mind.

Torres seems to embody Chelsea to an uncomfortable degree at the moment. Each of them have the potential to impress but it is still to be demonstrated that they can regain the reliability of old.