April may be kindest month for Mourinho

But it's difficult now to envisage any team beating them, never mind eroding their belief that the title is bound most appropriately for Stamford Bridge in Chelsea's centenary year.

It's quite fitting in a way because they last won it in their Golden Jubilee year in 1954-55, finishing the old First Division four points ahead of the previous season's champions Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The big difference is that the outcome was in the balance until their final home game - a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday watched by 51,000.

The truth is, of course, that Mourinho's Chelsea are now playing with the authority and discipline we once associated with Liverpool when they were at their peak. They allow nothing to undermine their confidence.

Nor do they tolerate anything less

than complete commitment from any individual. Their work ethic - rather like that of Liverpool in their European Cup winning days - is the platform upon which everything else is based.

No one combines work and artistry with greater success and efficiency than Frank Lampard and if there is a better candidate for Footballer of the Year this season I have yet to see him.

The Chelsea centre half John Terry comes close, of course, and Sven-Goran Eriksson, a spectator on Saturday, must be thinking about re-jigging the pecking order among his England defenders. There is not much now to chose between Terry, Arsenal's Sol Campbell and Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand.

Terry is benefiting from regularly playing in the heart of what is now the best defence in the Premiership. Six straight wins without conceding a goal is another item of minutiae Chelsea have just added to the Premier League record book.

When they won the title in 1955, Chelsea conceded 57 goals in 42 games. This season Petr Cech has let in eight goals in 23 matches, the kind of enduring excellence that looks guaranteed to give Mourinho's men another new defensive record.

The record for the fewest goals concededin the Premiership in a single season is held by Arsenal. In the last days of the Dixon-Adams-Keown-Winterburn era they let in just 17 in 1998-99 and still had to be satisfied with second place, upsetting the theory that the team with the best defence wins the title.

Cech has kept 17 Premiership clean sheets and is clearly profiting from the formidable Terry-William Gallas partnership. They restricted Tottenham's predatory goalscorer Jermain Defoe to just one chance on Saturday.

For all their possession and pressure Tottenham couldn't undermine Chelsea's game plan. They were unfortunate when Chelsea were awarded a dubious penalty - Lampard converted it with aplomb - but to be fair Chelsea had two other penalty claims that were ignored.

Lampard scored a second in the 90th minute, prompting assistant manager Steve Clarke to say afterwards: "There isn't a better midfield player in England at the moment."

Tottenham manager Martin Jol was generous in his praise of Chelsea. "They have all the ingredients to be the Premiership champions," he said.

If it all goes according to plan, winning the Premiership may only be the start for Chelsea.