Manchester United’s title hopes, it seems, are going to the Drogs - and they have only themselves to blame.

Didier Drogba’s remarkable late winner at Everton, plus United’s miserable 1-0 defeat at Alan Curbishley’s rejuvenated West Ham, narrowed the gap at the top of the Premiership to just two points. And with United still to visit Stamford Bridge, Chelsea, I suspect, are now marginal bookies favourites to complete a hat-trick of title wins.

I managed to watch part of both games (albeit with regular interruptions from bored grandchildren intent on hopping to the Disney Channel) - and while Chelsea are probably my least favourite team of the moment, I couldn’t help thinking that this was perhaps payback time for all those matches Alex Ferguson's men used to win in the last few minutes. And I don’t just mean the 1999 Champions League Final - there was a time when they seemed to grab a late equaliser and/or winner virtually every other game. Not so at Upton Park, where they hit the Curb with a real bump.

Now Chelsea seem to have inherited the mantle of late demolition experts - with Drogba inheriting the title of executioner in chief. He came on as a second-half sub and grabbed the only goal against Newcastle in midweek - and he did it again at Goodison with just three minutes of normal time remaining.

It was the Ivory Coast striker’s 16th goal of the season and it completed a remarkable turnaround after Everton had led for most of the game. In fact, it was the only time David Moyes' men had been behind - and it was bizarre to see Jose Mourinho’s arrogant exterior suddenly replaced by a Charlie Chaplin impression as he jumped up and down along the touchline to emphasise his relief at pinching a lucky three points. Frank Lampard’s equaliser a few minutes earlier had been bad enough for Everton after they had led 2-1- but the last thing they deserved was to come out of the game pointless.

United, on the other hand, had probably three times as many scoring chances as the Hammers - yet were let down by a combination of weak finishing and fine goalkeeping from Robert Green. They might still have escaped with a goalless draw, because the Hammers were no better when it came to finishing. But it was ironic that the only goal was set up by Teddy Sheringham (cue Champions League Final 1999) and scored by Nigel Reo-Coker, whose future at Upton Park has been in doubt.