Man of the Match John Terry rings in the Chelsea Christmas cheer at the Emirates

Chelsea may be in a slightly unique position of not having a true big local rival (thanks for being crap, Fulham, Brentford, QPR).  Arsenal are just about as close as we can possibly get to one.  It's on derby days like these when you need your best players and your biggest leaders to step up (as opposed to, you know, slip and fall down comically), and that's exactly what Terry did on Monday.

Terry is a bit a throwback to the previous era of no-nonsense defenders and with Chelsea sitting deep and compact, he had the chance to shine.  In fact, the whole defense (including the very much underappreciated Mikel) acquitted themselves quite spectacularly in keeping their precious Ozil, Walcott, Ramsey, and Rosicky in their pocketses.

Ahead of the match, Mourinho made it clear that Azpilicueta is his first choice left back, praising the Spaniard for playing without making a single mistake.  While that may be exaggerating things a bit, Dave certainly didn't do anything in this one to disprove Jose's assertions.

Lining up directly opposite the rocket that is Theo Walcott, Athpillykweta cooled the Englishman's jets to the tune of a match-worst 61% pass completion and an Arsenal-worst 41 touches.  Walcott was also kept without a single shot, while going 0/4 in aerial duels, 0/4 in take-ons (albeit not all against the Chelsea left back), and earning himself a yellow card, a considerable achievement given how stingy the referee was with his cards.

Azpilicueta was also credited with a clearance off the line.  While I'm not entirely convinced that the shot posed any danger in terms of either direction or strength, somebody still had to get a foot to it just to be sure.

Cahill gets the plaudits by assocation, although any minor success that Olivier Giroud found came against our Terry wannabe.

Still, a solid effort overall from the now 28-year-old who will also soon celebrate his second anniversary at the club.