Jose Mourinho warned Chelsea's title rivals that his side can match their record-breaking defensive exploits of last season after keeping their fourth consecutive clean sheet.
Chelsea may have struggled to overcome Wigan in their opening game, but they have since beaten Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion and now Spurs without letting in a single goal.
Indeed, despite having set a new league record of just 15 league goals conceded and 25 Premiership clean sheets last season, they are already ahead of schedule.
By this stage last season, Chelsea had let in one goal and the Blues are now just one clean sheet - with their next game at home to bottom-placed Sunderland - from matching Manchester United's record of five consecutive blanks at the start of the 1997-98 season.
Mourinho declared: "Wigan hit the post once but there were no saves. Against Arsenal, we had to make one save. Against West Brom, no saves. Against Tottenham, just one save needed again.
"Our goalkeepers are fantastic but the reality is that the team is very solid defensively. I like players to express what they have inside, but you must play with a defensive organisation.
"One day we will have to concede goals but the smell is that we will be like last season, with not many goals conceded, as the team is very solid defensively.
"Michael Essien is a complete midfield player and can play one game every day, he's so strong.
"Hernan Crespo is a different player to Didier Drogba, while Asier del Horno has been brilliant in these four matches, so I think we have a better team than last season."
Against Tottenham, the home side's early pressure evaporated when Mido was sent off after on 24 minutes for a forearm blow into del Horno, while Essien was only booked for bringing down Edgar Davids, as John Terry was just covering.
Although Terry wasted a header, del Horno was on target just before the break from Frank Lampard's corner, while Damien Duff made it 2-0 in the second-half with a fortuitous mishit shot.
However, the key to Chelsea's remorseless drive towards victory was that, even with a one-man advantage, they did not extend themselves or take any risks.
"We didn't attack much but I didn't want to," explained Mourinho. "I just wanted to control the game and wait for the chances. When Martin Jol tried [defender] Michael Dawson at centre-forward, he opened the door for us to score another goal.
"We had massive control. Our midfield triangle is playing very safe and very intelligently. I don't remember Petr Cech making any more than that one save from Michael Carrick."
The irony is that it was the Chelsea boss who accused Tottenham of 'parking a bus' in front of their goal at Stamford Bridge last season in grinding out a goalless draw.
This time around, Spurs, who started the day in second place, tried to take the game to their visitors, only for Mido's dismissal to "kill the game off" for them, with the Egypt international even having been assigned to mark goalscorer del Horno at corners.
His absence cost Tottenham dearly, as will his automatic three-match ban for violent conduct, especially with Freddie Kanoute having been sold.
New Spurs midfielder Davids nevertheless revealed the change in mentality which has taken place at White Hart Lane as he observed: "I was happy that the guys were disappointed that we lost. It looks like we have a bright future."
Chelsea's future is even brighter, with Davids refusing to criticise Mourinho's side for their cautious style, even though Arsene Wenger has previously condemned them as a 'long-ball' side.
"It's very difficult to play Chelsea with 11 men, so you can imagine how hard it is with 10," he said.
"They are very effective, have very good players and they play as a team. They are very disciplined and that is a compliment to them."
In many ways, it is more Serie A than Premiership, but Davids concluded: "In the end, what do you want? They don't attack that much but they know when to do it.
"They are winning so Mourinho has the right on his side. The only thing you can do is compliment them."作者: YUEN_LOUIS 時間: 2005-8-29 02:49 PM
