Danny Higginbotham column: Chelsea aren’t boring – they marry both style and substance, as all the statistics show

People keep going on about the importance of style over substance, but with Chelsea the blend of style and substance is significant

Jose Mourinho gestures from the sidelines at the Emirates (Getty Images)

How many more times before this weekend is out are we going to hear that ridiculous talk about Chelsea playing boring football? On every level – statistical, tactical, with the evidence of our own eyes – it is patently nonsense.

Some of the numbers the various title challengers have chalked up through the season – and I’ve not assessed Manchester United as part of that group because I never considered them possible champions – bear out how Chelsea have had just as much style as the best, when the time was right.

Let’s turn the clock back to New Year’s Day and how the table looked then, at the halfway point. Chelsea and City had identical performances at that stage. Same number of wins, draws, defeats and even the same number of goals scored and conceded. Since then City have lost five games while Chelsea have not lost a single Premier League fixture. City have conceded more than double the eight goals Chelsea have shipped in that time and yet – wait for this – City have scored only two goals more.

People keep going on about the importance of style over substance, but with Chelsea the blend of style and substance is significant.

We are looking at a tale of two half-seasons. The first half was all about style: Chelsea scoring three, four, even six goals on occasions, matching City strike-for-strike. The second half was all about substance. Getting the job done, keeping clean sheets in four of their eight away league games this calendar year, while City have not managed that once on their travels.

Chelsea players celebrate John Terry's goal against Leicester (Getty Images)

The games I always think are the best barometer of how good a team is are those away from home because – let’s face it – some visiting teams have lost before they even turn out at Stamford Bridge, the Emirates or the Etihad. The away games are when you have to dig in and show you can defend as well as attack. And among those away games I like to look at those when the title challengers go a goal behind. That is a test of their mettle.

Chelsea have conceded the first goal away from home seven times this season but they have ended up losing only one of those games. City have conceded first on eight occasions and have won only one of those games, losing five. Arsenal have conceded first four times and not won a single one of those fixtures. It was no coincidence that we saw Chelsea coming from behind to win at Leicester City in the week.

They do that because they put defence at the heart of all they do and because Jose Mourinho approaches every game individually, on its own tactical merit. That’s what I love about the way he sets up his teams. Everyone goes into the big games against the big teams saying the same thing: “Where are Liverpool going to be a threat?” Or: “Where are Manchester United going to be dangerous?” Mourinho turns that threat into a negative.

The occasion that’s always stuck in my mind was Chelsea’s game at Manchester City last season. All the talk was about how to stop David Silva and how he was the threat. Mourinho made Silva into a negative. He established that the Spaniard’s narrow attacking forays were creating space behind, which the little City man was not getting back to cover. So he made sure Petr Cech got the ball wide to Branislav Ivanovic, who had pushed up into that space Silva had vacated. And who got the winner? It was Ivanovic, popping up in the box. Mourinho has used that as the template which has enabled him to get the better of City.

Ivanovic scores the winner against Manchester City at the Etihad (PA)

It was the same when United arrived at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago. We were all talking about Marouane Fellaini as the danger man. But Chelsea set up like the away team. Kurt Zouma and Nemanja Matic in defensive midfield snuffed out Fellaini and, because Mourinho ordered his defence to drop deeper than usual, he did not allow United to make the Belgian an aerial focal point. By the time United wanted to play the ball to Fellaini it was impossible for them to go long.

At Anfield, Mourinho knew Liverpool would be strong on the counter-attack and again Chelsea sat deep and did not allow that counter-attack. They then picked them off.

Their two-man defensive midfield at Stoke revealed a manager showing respect to more than just the top four sides. Such were the contours of this season.

It’s horses for courses with Mourinho, who has never been afraid to use different ways of playing.

Mourinho's tactics have shown respect to more than just the top four (GETTY IMAGES)

In any assessment of the changing face of the Premier League table since the turn of the year it’s important to acknowledge the way Arsenal have turned things around, climbing from sixth to third, just behind City. And if you were asked who’s played the most stylish football overall you might identify them. To which you would have to add: “What’s the point?”

Arsenal have won one trophy in 10 years while Chelsea are destined to win twice that number in this campaign alone. And while scoring just two fewer goals than “swashbuckling” Manchester City.

Chelsea deserve the title, which may well be theirs by tomorrow night. They don’t deserve to be the recipients of people’s desire to aim a kick at clinically excellent serial winners. Mourinho and his players warrant better than that in a season when they have made the others look ordinary.

Danny Higginbotham’s autobiography, Rise of the Underdog, published by Trinity Mirror Sport, is out now (RRP £16.99. Kindle £6.99)