Although Villa had chances it would be fair to say that they were from long distance and Petr Cech had a relatively trouble free afternoon.

Chelsea had chances. Duff and Robben causing mayhem on the flanks, getting in behind the Villa defence. Lampard industrious in midfield which is now the norm and Super JT solid as a rock at the back. No nonsense tough tackling defending, as we always love and expect from JT.

The only goal of the game came in the 30th minute from Duff. Cutting in from the right before unleashing a left footer from fifteen yards straight as an arrow into the bottom right hand corner passed Sorensen's despairing dive. At that point you would have expected Chelsea to lay seige on Villas' goal for the next sixty minutes, but sadly in just didn't happen, although Robben again from the right had a stinger of a rising shot just miss the far left hand post with Sorensen completely stranded.

Expectation of the MHL stand came a bit to quick, with the taunt to the travelling Villa fans, 'you might as well go home, you might as well go home,' with hopes of another goal glut were not realised. With past Boxing Day results being disappointing, there was a sense of collective relief at the final whistle that another three points were safely tuck away in the bag.

At this busy stage of the season, the results matter more than the performances.

Next up Pompey. Squeaky Bum Part Two