Another draw, the sixth of Guus Hiddink's ten-game caretaker role, left Blues ruing what might have been against Manchester United on Sunday.

A lacklustre start, in which Chelsea barely got the ball out of their own half for the first quarter of the game; and a cautious approach, with two holding men at home to an out-of-sorts United, barely enlivened Stamford Bridge.

The atmosphere was not as expected, following John Terry's recent announcement that this was to be his last half-season with the club.

The name of the 'captain, leader, legend' was sung sporadically from the off, but for the most part the ambiance was downbeat, rather than defiant.

A combination of factors – Terry's predicament, the poor season, ticketing concerns (not least the hurdles put in the way of the club's followers away in Europe), and the threat of a four-year exile to Wembley – do seem to have left a great many questioning their love for both the club and the game.

Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United in pictures:

Add to this slough of despond Kurt Zouma's quite horrible injury on the hour, and the feeling was particularly flat as the game entered its last third.

But, against the odds, the fare on pitch was improving.

Though the quality between these two sides was seldom great, what we were seeing was a contest far more engaging than the quite awful 0-0 at Old Trafford little over a month ago.

Jesse Lingard's goal, which seized on chaos in the Blues' back four following Zouma's departure, was a moment of brilliance – though he should never have had the space to turn and shoot as he did.

And the two keepers battle for supremacy, where each seemed to try and out-leap the other in the pursuit of the most remarkable save, reached its peak when David de Gea pounced cat-like to deny Branislav Ivanovic in the closing stages.

At that point he probably could have dropped the mic and walked.

Of course there was, again, to be an injury time climax to proceedings.

Super save: David De Gea and Thibaut Courtois were the stars of the show

De Gea probably had it covered, but with the addition of Cameron Borthwick-Jackson's attempted clearance, Diego Costa was able to round the pair and score.

His reaction in front of the Matthew Harding end was worth the ticket price alone – as the clear frustrations of 90-plus minutes of grumbles was released in a show of animal emotion.

It was his seventh goal in nine Chelsea games, and all of a sudden the striker who had so struggled to find the net under Jose Mourinho this season, was doing his old boss favours in pursuit of his latest appointment.

There will be complaints about the lack of ambition here from Chelsea.

But Hiddink is doing a job of shoring-up a side that was in freefall not so long ago.

The complaint was made afterwards that six draws equalled 12 lost points – which would put Blues fifth on 42 points.

But given the alternative involved continuing at the same deathly average of less than a point a game under Mourinho, which would now put them 18th on 23 points, the present standing does at least show improvement.

Crucial: Diego Costa of Chelsea scores the equalising goal

There is the feeling, though, that having stabilised the ship Hiddink needs to start sailing for new waters.

The Champions League double header against Paris Saint-Germain will dominate the next month, but around it there are eminently winnable games: home to Newcastle in the league, and to Manchester City's youngsters in the FA Cup; away to Southampton and Norwich for more desperately needed points.

There is still empty talk about whether or not a top four finish is possible – it simply isn't. And qualification for the Europa League via the traditional route is probably also gone.

But these are the games that will decide if Hiddink can at least return a reasonably credible-in-the-circumstances top-half conclusion to Chelsea's worst campaign in two decades.

Read more: Chelsea skipper John Terry still waiting on contract talks.

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