These are changing times at Stamford Bridge. Gone are the days when Chelsea benefited from limitless financial backing to lure the best players on the planet to west London. Gone, too, is the aura of invincibility which once steeled them once they arrived there. "It's still a bit raw," admitted Peter Kenyon upon returning to the scene of Arsenal's victory on Sunday. "No one would deny there have been some disappointing results, but we have to put things into context. As I speak we're top of the most competitive league in the world, so you can't be too down. We're confident."

The chief executive was speaking well before Liverpool took to the field against West Ham last night, but with the dust still settling on his team's latest setback. Talk of crisis remains perverse given the swashbuckling start made to management in the Premier League by Luiz Felipe Scolari, but this club will still have welcomed a gentle pick-me-up issued from on high. Chelsea are not used to losing home games, and there have been two slip-ups in the last six weeks against rival contenders. Sunday's defeat left many in a profound state of shock, particularly after a linesman's error gifted the visitors their equaliser. Chelsea make unlikely victims.

Kenyon recognised defeat as a blip rather than evidence of any underlying problem, though the announcement of a four-year sponsorship extension with the tour operator Thomas Cook was also an opportunity to offer reminders of current realities. This club will not be pouring lavish funds into the transfer market in January to buy its way back to the Premier League title. Next summer's investment in the team will be reliant upon Scolari generating funds through sales. It is as if Chelsea have been dragged back into the real world, with the current set-up wiser and more mature for the experience.

"We always said we didn't feel that we needed to invest £100m every year for the team to win things," said Kenyon. "I think we'll be pretty busy in the summer, but we'll be trying to buy players for the long term. It's not about just throwing bodies at the problem, certainly at our level. We've lost Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Ricardo Carvalho and Joe Cole to injury. Didier Drogba is now banned - big players anybody would miss, and where are the replacements for any of them? In the summer, never mind in January. They're not available.

"It's too easy to say we've got to have more players in the squad. We have 25, which is what the manager deems to be right. It was a similar size under Jose [Mourinho] and only grew because we didn't move players out when we brought others in. Sure, we've had more strikers here but we only ever played with one or two at any one time, and Didier will be back soon. He's a big player for us."

Any thoughts Drogba may have had of manipulating a midwinter move away from Stamford Bridge appear to have been dashed. The Ivorian was alleged to have met with the Internazionale technical director, Marco Branca, in a London restaurant last week. "I'm not concerned," insisted Kenyon. "I don't know whether a meeting went on or not, but Didier has a contract with us for another 18 months. Players will only leave Chelsea when we let them. Didier has a big season ahead of him. We know the contribution he can make, and we want to get him back to that form because it's important for us in the second half of the season. That's been my message to Didier. He's at Chelsea - why would he want to be anywhere else?"

There is longevity, too, in the board's faith in Scolari. There is as much pressure upon the Brazilian to deliver silverware and, most critically, this club's first European Cup as there was on his predecessor, and the hierarchy's reputation for impatience is well established. Mourinho departed just two months into his fourth season at the club after a trophy-laden spell at Stamford Bridge. Avram Grant lost two league games, two cup finals and came within a whisker of the title but was sacked. Scolari has dropped 12 points at home already this season - Abramovich does not travel to many away matches - and Chelsea are the only English representatives yet to qualify for the next phase of the Champions League. Had it been Grant's side that lost to Arsenal, the reaction might have been one of hysteria.

"How do you improve our record over the last five years? By going to the next level, which is not just getting to the final but winning the Champions League, and regaining the Premiership," added Kenyon, whose club have reached a private agreement with Lyn Oslo over the controversial signing of Mikel John Obi.

"If you do any of those, you've moved the club on. If you don't, we'll try again next season. With the same manager. He's got a three-year contract. You don't want to sack a manager every year. You want continuity. Felipe has done a tremendous job and we shouldn't be questioning his role pre-Christmas when we're top of the league, albeit after a disappointing week." Reality appears to be biting at the Bridge.

Obafemi Martins has apologised to Joe Kinnear after stomping down the tunnel following his substitution during Saturday's 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough but remains baffled by the Newcastle United manager's decision to withdraw him.

"I was absolutely gutted at being hauled off," said the striker, who was replaced by Mark Viduka during the second half. "It was all down to sheer disappointment. Like any other player I am always most disappointed when I am substituted.

"But I'm sorry if what I did was a problem and, in hindsight, perhaps it was wrong of me to go into the dressing room and not go on the bench. I was feeling good and felt as though I could score and I still do not know why I was called off.

"It wasn't a surprise that Mark Viduka was brought on but I was hoping to play alongside him and Michael Owen. When the three of us were used together last season we had a fair amount of success."

As the FA yesterday launched an investigation into Islamophobic chants briefly directed at Middlesbrough's Egypt striker Mido by Newcastle fans, Piara Power, the national coordinator of the anti-racism campaign Kick it Out, demanded firm action. "We need Cleveland police to take this by the scruff of the neck because it's a criminal offence," he said. "I don't think the FA have any option but to bring charges against Newcastle. We are working with Newcastle and will be pressing home to them the need to look at the issue of Islamophobia."

An FA spokesman said: "Our position on these matters always is that any individuals who are identified and found guilty of discriminatory chanting, we will be calling for them to be banned. The responsibility lies with the police and the clubs to identify individuals responsible. We'll be liaising with them to make sure that happens." Cleveland police have confirmed 14 arrests were made at the fixture, 11 of which were inside the stadium. However, they have not said whether any were related to the offensive chanting.

Stephen Carr, the former Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur and Republic of Ireland right-back, has retired. The 32-year-old failed to find a new club after leaving Newcastle at the end of last season. Carr won 44 international caps but suffered a series of injuries.