This FA Cup final was anything but a game apart. Recent results loomed over it, with Chelsea alone heartened by those memories. Roberto Di Matteo's side were galvanised by beating Barcelona to reach the Champions League final and exercised a degree of control at Wembley. Liverpool, for their part, will realise the current limitations. Kenny Dalglish is the type of manager who does not labour under any delusions even if he is unlikely to bare his soul in public.

The struggle had been intense because each club is at odds with itself as much as with the opposition. Chelsea merited their victory, but there was nothing magisterial about the win. A remarkable piece of resistance was demanded of their goalkeeper Petr Cech in the 82nd minute when, following a Luis Suárez cross, he put a close-range header from the substitute Andy Carroll against the underside of the bar and so preserved a 2-1 lead.

It was not clear that the whole of the ball had crossed the line and Liverpool were left in anguish after finding that the menace they showed was insufficient. Carroll had smartly outmanoeuvred John Terry in the 64th minute as he made space and shot home, but the victors somehow prevented further harm.

It would be unjust to ignore the excellence of the attacking midfielder Juan Mata, but there were few team-mates with even a tinge of his style. Frantic defiance was not a method associated with Chelsea during comparatively recent days, yet they now have to scramble to succeed. The side are adept at it. A survivalist streak has deepened.

Such an approach does not tally with the vision of splendour the owner Roman Abramovich must hold after flooding the club with wealth, but the current grittiness of the squad carries its own appeal. The interim head coach Di Matteo does not look a stopgap appointee.

Chelsea generally guarded their lead over Liverpool with confidence. The victors are a side under gradual redevelopment and may return to the Champions League next season only if they .

Even so, age itself does not necessarily define their players. The contest with Liverpool was settled by the goal that put Chelsea 2-0 ahead and it was notched by Didier Drogba. The Ivorian may not be prolific, but he is formidable. His continuing impact at the age of 34 is sometimes ascribed to the fact that he only began his career in earnest 10years ago, when making his mark with Guingamp in France.

Regardless of the physique, Drogba's style is not really attritional and he would have faded by now if he did not have supreme gifts. He may have heft, but it is sheer talent that bruises the minds of opponents. When Frank Lampard picked out the striker in the 52nd minute, his shot into the far corner of the net allowed José Reina no hope of denying him as he stretched the lead.

Dismay had particular bite because Liverpool ought to have prevented Chelsea's opener in the 11th minute. There was no resilience after possession was lost by Jay Spearing, who would later be withdrawn. With the left-back José Enrique failing to intervene, Mata found Ramires and his shot went home at the near post after coming off the leg of Reina. It was an unkempt breakthrough. To some extent, each club was trying to flee from the mediocrity that has stolen over them in the Premier League. There was a poignancy to Steven Gerrard in particular. In his greatest days he was a force of nature as much as a midfielder, a performer who could reroute a Champions League final, as he did for Liverpool's victory over Milan in Istanbul in 2005.

There is no one else at the club even faintly reminiscent of Gerrard at his peak. All the same, this is no vintage Chelsea side and the final was hotly contested. The larger truth is the victors had the better squad. The outcome at Wembley may have been no more than a diversion for the owner, taking his mind off the Champions League, however briefly.

Man of the match Didier Drogba (Chelsea)