Mission Accomplished. This narrow victory took Chelsea into the Champions League last night and, if it was hardly as title winners, as Gianluca Vialli would have hoped, why worry about such details?
The celebrations began in earnest at Stamford Bridge after Gustavo Poyet's header had won an occasionally spiteful game and guaranteed Chelsea third place.
Although both clubs have long since insisted they have had as much direct interest in the title race as Nottingham Forest, there was always going to be more than pride and a little place money to play for.
Even failure in the Champions League for the Premiership's third team would hardly be disastrous. A place in the UEFA Cup beckons if Chelsea lose the qualifier in August or finish third in the initial group stage.
Undoubtedly David O'Leary could do with the money more than Gianluca Vialli. His young side, though, had won 5-1 against an ultimately eight-man West Ham on Saturday, and there looked a good possibility of a similar smattering of red cards.
Last season's scoreless but hardly star-less battle of Stamford Bridge saw two Leeds players dismissed. At Elland Road in October another 0-0 draw was enlivened by a red card for Frank Leboeuf and 13 yellows.
Chelsea pressed incessantly early on but created little of note until the 14th minute. Poyet's shot was parried by Nigel Martyn, who was grateful to see Gianfranco Zola send his volley over from the rebound.
The anticipated nastiness reared its head shortly afterwards when Dennis Wise was booked for a tackle on Lee Bowyer. The angry reaction by the Leeds coach Eddie Gray suggested trouble but thankfully Wise chose to kiss rather than bite him.
Leeds, though, showed their teeth for the first time almost immediately. Marcel Desailly blocked from Alfie Haaland after a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's free-kick was deflected, and then Haaland send in a cross from which Stephen McPhail, sliding in, forced Ed de Goey to save.
In between, Chelsea came closest to scoring. Poyet had a long-range effort blocked and from the rebound Jody Morris saw his shot deflected agonisingly wide.
Three more times before half-time Chelsea's slick play almost brought its reward. First Wise put in Tore Andre Flo, whose shot was kicked wide by Martyn; from the corner Desailly's shot was blocked on the line by David Batty; and finally Zola's cross allowed Flo a header which Martyn saved.
Shortly after the interval Jonathon Woodgate joined Wise, Lucas Radebe and Morris in the book for a late tackle on Leboeuf which prompted heated exchanges between the two managers.
That provided the best entertainment of a sluggish opening to the second half. Although Poyet headed over from Wise's corner, much of the sparkle looked to have drained from Chelsea's play.
Finally, though, they made the breakthrough in the 68th minute. Graeme Le Saux's cross form the left picked out Poyet who headed his 13th goal of the season.
Chelsea: De Goey; Ferrer, Desailly, Leboeuf, Le Saux, Petrescu, Wise, Morris (Goldbaek 66), Poyet, Zola (Forssell 89), Flo (Di Matteo 82). Subs not used: Duberry, Hitchcock. Booked: Wise, Morris, Petrescu. Goal: Poyet 68.
Leeds: Martyn; Haaland, Woodgate, Radebe, Harte, Bowyer, Batty, McPhail (Hopkin 86), Kewell, Smith, Hasselbaink. Subs not used: Wetherall, Wijnhard, Halle, Robinson. Booked: Radebe, Woodgate, Haaland.
Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
