It was a job done up at the Emirates Stadium last night.
A 0-0 draw ensured that we head into the festive period as one of five clubs that have ambitions of winning the Premier League title this season.
Okay, it may not have been pretty but in the worst weather condition we`ve experienced this year, with gale force winds and incessant driving rain, did we really expect anything else.
With 60,000 packed into the Emirates Stadium, Jose Mouirnho saw his side produce a hard-working display that saw Arsenal prevented from having a shot on target until the 85th minute, a feat I`m sure nobody else has managed.
However, although shots (on target) were few and far between the match was not without incident.
In the 32nd minute Frank Lampard laid a ball off to Eden Hazard and the Belgian`s exquisite return ball saw Lampard hit a volley against the under-side of the bar. Despite protestations from Mourinho, to the contrary, the ball didn`t cross the line.
Minutes later Arsenal thought they were hard done by when John Obi Mikel and Mikel Arteta clashed in midfield in what looked, at first, to be a 50-50 ball. The replays though suggested that Mikel might have been a little fortunate to stay on the pitch.
Seconds alter the home support were howling for a penalty when Willian appeared to catch the foot of Theo Walcott in the penalty area. Thankfully the referee, Mike Dean, was having nothing of it believing that Walcott went down quicker than my garden fence in the howling wind.
The half ended with Aaron Ramsey playing a loose ball and with Chelsea four on three Willian produced a weak shot that was easily saved.
The second half saw more of the same. Arsenal pushed forward without causing Chelsea too many problems whilst Chelsea relied on swift counter-attacks that didn`t, in the main, test the Pole in the Arsenal goal. As we approached the final stages Olivier Giroud wasted a decent chance, blasting wide at the far post as Petr Cech rushed out to narrow the angle.
The French striker was also denied by a combination of John Terry and Cech lat eon when he goal-bound flick was diverted over the cross bar.
The game ended with the Arsenal support deriding Chelsea as boring but the manner in which Chelsea nullified the threat Arsenal cause so many other teams was, in all honesty, something to be admired on a night when conditions were atrocious.
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