FA Cup Fifth round/ Chelsea 4 Norwich City 0:The marked change in Jose Mourinho's declarations and demeanour indicates the return of Roman Abramovich to Stamford Bridge on Saturday has chastened the Chelsea manager.

There was another routine win to add to the veneer of stability that six successive victories have applied but Mourinho's subdued manner suggests there has been one recent battle even he could not win. During Abramovich's five-week absence from London and at the height of the tensions between club owner and manager, Mourinho demarcated his territory like a dog cocking its leg.

He said after the fourth-round FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest last month that he would welcome the Russian billionaire "in our space, in our dressingroom or at our training ground". But his remarks on Saturday, an almost grovelling clarification of those words, suggest he has been slapped down for his insubordination.

"It is his club," said Mourinho. "He doesn't have to give explanations when he comes or when he is not here. It is his club. We work for him and this is his club."

The conciliatory comments indicate that Mourinho has finally accepted that, if he is to continue receiving his £2-million salary at Chelsea, he does it on his employer's terms. Mourinho remains vexed by what he considers to be intrusions into his autonomy over football matters at the club and one report yesterday stated he will demand its restoration in a meeting with Abramovich.

Before his recent absence Abramovich would customarily visit the dressingroom after a positive result to congratulate players and staff. He did not do so on Saturday.

Though Mourinho has clearly set about thawing the frosty relationship with his employer, a parting of the ways this summer still seems more than probable. Chelsea trail Manchester United by six points at the top of the Premiership but this win puts them in the FA Cup quarter-finals before the League Cup final against Arsenal on Sunday.

Mourinho is in no doubt about what that accumulation represents. "We fought hard to survive," he said of his club's recent difficulties. "I have used that word for a lot of weeks - survive, survive, survive - and we survived. Now it is time to attack the competitions. I think surviving - being here - is a comment on these eight months of work. I think it is brilliant work from my team.

"We have always been working well. The results were not always good but we kept together. I think to be fair this is a brilliant season for us because it is much more difficult than the previous seasons where we had no problems."

He focused on the injuries to John Terry and Joe Cole but the problems extend beyond them. It is enlightening Mourinho should reflect that there had been "no problems" at the club in the past considering he has twice threatened to walk out of Chelsea in previous seasons.

On both occasions Mourinho was placated by the offer of an improved contract and the cycle of history is revolving. It is said he will go into talks with Abramovich again seeking this form of propitiation; the "unpredictable" Portuguese is, in fact, tiresomely predictable. As have his team's results again become but Wednesday's Champions League match against Mourinho's former club, Porto, offers a chance for the neutral to experience something out of the ordinary.

"Now (we have a) difficult spell because of the quality of the opposition and because everybody now is fighting for the last part of the season and is fighting to achieve big things," said Mourinho. "So that is difficult. But the team knows we will win something."

There were seldom any scares here, though it might have been a more interesting affair had Dickson Etuhu's 20-yard shot, which ricocheted off a post, been converted by Lee Croft but his golden opportunity was squandered with a scuff. Instead Chelsea's dour dominance of the second half saw them extend the half-time lead Shaun Wright-Phillips had opened through Didier Drogba's smart turn and shot.

Croft almost atoned when his volley was tipped against the bar by the impressive Petr Cech with 10 minutes to play. But Chelsea's two-goal lead was then doubled in injury-time by subs Michael Essien and Andriy Shevchenko.

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