On Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge, one manager whose appointment provoked fierce opprobrium from his own club’s supporters will be in direct opposition to a man whose arrival was celebrated by followers of relegation haunted Q.P.R

Regardless of the discontent with which he has had to contend, Rafa Benitez, in his short Chelsea tenure to date, has improved the team in his charge.  There can be no argument that the Spaniard’s side look a far more balanced unit than the one which preceded his arrival.  The benefit of his tweaking is quickly finding tangible reward, borne out by hard-fought festive victories at two of the Premier League’s more testing venues, Carrow Road and Goodison Park.

Benitez is the first boss at Stamford Bridge since Guus Hiddink took a similar short-term role in 2009 – and only the second during Roman Abramovich’s nine-and-a-half year ownership – to work relatively free of pressure.  The interim manager knows he is in place until May, at which point his oligarch commander will draft in the next ‘must have’ man.

Safe in the knowledge that barring a horrific spell of results he has a free reign, Benitez can exert a control over his team that a permanent employee could not.  Abramovich for example, may prefer Frank Lampard to be phased out of action with the midfielder set to leave the Bridge in the summer.  With nothing but the immediate future to fret about, Benitez is using Chelsea’s highest ever top-division goalscorer whenever he decrees his selection to be suitable.

Similarly, there is no ambiguity about the nature of the ex-Liverpool manager’s life-expectancy at the club.  The temperamental, and previously all-powerful, cabal of individuals in the Stamford Bridge dressing-room know definitively that they will be bossed by Benitez until the season ends.  Notwithstanding the manner in which some have railed against previous incumbents of the Chelsea hot-seat, this remains a superb squad of players, imbued with a ferocious winning mentality.  For proof of that fact you need only go back as far as May 2012.

Harry Redknapp, from his position across West London at Loftus Road, has in his unique style, declared that only a ‘real dope’ could make a mess of the job at Chelsea with the group of players in place.  By implication, that comment would suggest Redknapp is placing that particular moniker on his successor at Tottenham Hotspur, Andre Villas-Boas, who has his side – shorn of the wonderful Luka Modric from last term’s vibrant midfield – sitting third in the table.

As a man who is lauded for his man-management skills, and an ability to draw the best from a set of footballers, Redknapp is yet to showcase those attributes in his latest brief.  There is no doubt that the ex-West Ham boss took on a formidable task in trying to keep the R’s in the top-flight, rooted to the bottom of the league as they were, with a mere five points when he succeeded Mark Hughes.

Early showings were considered as steady progress rather than any revitalisation, and ultimately a total of three points from matches against; Sunderland, Aston Villa, and Wigan, is not a healthy return.  Subsequent to Rangers finally achieving a victory against Fulham, their performances have veered between poor and calamitous in succumbing to; Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion, and Liverpool.

Redknapp has recently spoken of his dislike for the transfer window, and asserted a belief that his club’s owners have not received anything close to value for money on player investment;

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