On Boxing Day, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all picked up all three points.

Nineteen rounds later, Chelsea won the halfway game, five points ahead of Arsenal and nine ahead of Manchester United. The Christmas campaign started well and everyone got off to a good start, especially Chelsea, who didn't let Arsene Wenger and Ferguson curse of 'dropping points' as they wished. But what about the next two and a half days when you have to play a game?

There is no doubt that this competition is far from over. In less than 10 days, each of the three teams will face three opponents. In the dense Christmas schedule, the test everyone faces is definitely not as simple as lying at home to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new.

Arsenal's mentality looked to have returned to normal against Fulham.

After the Champions Cup was suspended, their attention was able to focus on the league; After the draw with Chelsea, they gained confidence and brought back Patrick Vieira and Ljungberg. The team is currently in relatively good shape and in good form. Henry, as he said, will fight for Mr. Footballer with a more beautiful game. Against Coleman's side, Thierry Henry's beautiful goal and a crossbar gave the whole of Highbury a real taste of the excitement of receiving a big gift on Boxing Day. Over the years, Highbury has shown good form in Christmas games, and now Wenger is thinking about how to continue this good three-point form.

Manchester United were held to a draw by Fulham after four wins in a row and soon followed up with a 5-2 thrashing of Crystal Palace before beating Bolton Wanderers 2-0 yesterday. They are still three points behind Everton, but they are aiming for much more than just outperforming Everton.

It's Ruud van Nistelrooy's injury that is causing Ferguson at the moment, but the good news is that there's a new goal machine, Paul Scholes. He has scored seven goals in his last seven games. And, the real good news is. Keane's form has clearly picked up a lot. With Keane in good form, a combination of midfielders and formations. None of them will be a problem that bothers Ferguson.

Despite Chelsea's sluggish first-half game against Aston Villa yesterday, they managed to pick up the three points thanks to Jose Mourinho's clever design.

Their record in the last ten rounds is eight wins and two draws, and in seven of those eight victories they have scored four goals against their opponents.

Jose Mourinho's side don't look like they're dropping points.

Chelsea's Christmas sickness has been the subject of a lot of criticism in the past, but this is off to a good start, will it continue in the next three games?

After the game, John Terry and Jose Mourinho were both pleased with the team's performance, but at the same time emphasised more. It is very important to get three points in the case of fatigue and attrition.

In the absence of good form, this Chelsea side is still very difficult to lose, which is what is terrible about Mourinho. Since Arjen Robben's return, Chelsea have not only shown quality defence, but also very sharp attack, and Chelsea's crazy performances have continued, moving forward under the curse of opponents, will Chelsea become more champions after Christmas?

Next. How to keep the team in high fighting condition depends on the craftsmanship of the Portuguese madman. Mourinho himself knows best that at this time, the top two and a certain subconscious of public opinion are looking forward to their team slowing down the pace of progress, if there is anything wrong in the next three games. That could be a more serious landslide.

After 19 rounds, Chelsea are now five points clear of Arsenal on 46 points and nine ahead of fourth-placed Manchester United. But even a nine-point gap. It can also be rewritten in a short period of time. A year ago this time, Chelsea picked up just three points in three games over the Christmas period. After entering the New Year. He found himself seven points behind Manchester United and four points behind Arsenal.

But at least for now. Leading the way is Chelsea. If they beat Portsmouth tomorrow, they will also have 49 points after 20 rounds, the same number of points United had scored in the same period a year ago. 49 points from 20 rounds, an astonishing number of points, and Manchester United have only won such a point once in the history of the Premier League.

Mourinho has another nickname - nagging Neo. Since responding to Ferguson's attack on an exceptional basis a week ago, Mourinho has uncharacteristically become active.

As a result, the British, who are adept at making words and harmonies, changed the name of the Chelsea manager to "Moanrhino" (Moan means nagging and complaining). This time, England's unique hectic Christmas campaign was the primary target of the "Nagging Neo" attack.

As if that weren't the end of the fun, the Portuguese also snapped on fellow city title contenders Arsenal.

Mourinho's conversation started with an away win at Portsmouth.

For weeks, the English media has been filled with suspicion about Chelsea, and the poor results of the Christmas period for several years have been dubbed the 'Christmas syndrome'.

The clever Mourinho quickly turned the conversation to the so-called "Christmas syndrome" and complained: "I think we at least psychologically broke this damn thing, even though my players and I never felt it existed. We've got all six points we could have had. ”

However, it would be unrealistic to say that the four league games scheduled in the 10 days of the Christmas and New Year period in the Premier League this season have had no effect on the Portuguese at all.

Coming from the continent, he didn't dare to attack England's traditions, but instead talked about the dreaded 'super-density' competition: "It's true that you can ask players to play two games in three days, and they can. But that's not true, it's like you can smoke three packs of cigars in a row and you're still alive, but it's not good for your health. Again, it's certainly not healthy to play so many games, especially those teams that still have European mandates. ”

In a flash of excitement, the Blues boss pointed the finger at Arsenal, arguing that the league arrangement was too favourable to Arsenal and that Chelsea actually received significantly less rest than their opponents.

Mourinho says it's not the first time that the schedule has favoured Arsenal: "They always get two or three days more rest and that's obviously good for their recovery. Perhaps, this is the reason for the telecast. However, our players are already extremely tired, especially John Terry, who has played two big games in a row and has very little time to prepare for Saturday's game against Liverpool. ”

The Portuguese have long been unhappy with the Christmas schedule that characterizes England.

Ahead of this round of league games, he raised his concerns: "I can understand the decision to schedule a game one day after Christmas, but two days later the next game is too harsh for the team. I know it's a British tradition, but it's certainly a mistake. ”

"The Sun" commented that the current Mourinho is no longer the dirt bun who can't stand the media attack and refuses to be interviewed, and the current Mourinho has begun to take the initiative.

Whoever has to admit the fact that Chelsea, who have conceded just eight goals in the 19 Premier League games that have been played, are really hard to beat.

The starting point of Portsmouth's tactics is one word: "blocking".

From the five-man midfield to the full-backs' stalking of the Blues' wingers Arjen Robben and Duff, Portsmouth's unusually tenacity surprised everyone.

Chelsea's attack has been in trouble since Drogba received a pass from Duff in the third minute and fired a shot from the left side of the box that was saved by goalkeeper Hislop.

In the 18th minute, just two minutes after Yakubu's goal was disallowed for a foul, Quiasche's powerful shot from 25 yards on the left was saved by Cech with one hand.

These are not much of a threat to Chelsea in the Guardian's view, as apart from these two minutes, "the Czech goalkeeper has not had many opportunities to express himself". But for The Independent, Chelsea have created fewer chances than Portsmouth in the space of 45 minutes, and the facts show that 'even with a more solid defence than Arsenal, they are only half a point better than Arsenal a week ago.'

The British media, who like to criticise outsiders, also noticed an attack in which Jonker was not up front and was replaced by a midfielder for Frank Lampard in the game.

A lot of the sticking points have been due to Jonker's poor guidance, and there's no denying that Chelsea's no.25 is amazing and excellent at interception, but when it comes to sorting out the team, the gap between him and Frank is still obvious.

Chelsea's attacking disadvantage in the first half was more due to Jonker's play, and it has become a common practice in the British media to look for Chelsea's faults with a magnifying glass every game.

The balance of victory showed signs of tipping at the start of the second half.

At half-time, Jose Mourinho once again unleashed an encouraging "killer feature": "This is not a game for you to show off your skills, dribbling and perfect possession are not what we need. All I want is your determination, your never-ending determination to win and win. Portsmouth gave us a very tough first half but I'm glad you withstood it and in the second half, it's time for you to show the whole of England. ”

So, in the 56th minute, Drogba challenged Hislop again!

In the 62nd minute, Gudjohnsen fired a barb shot high on the goal line.

In the 74th minute, Quiache used his body to block Robben's powerful shot...... Portsmouth's defence finally crumbled before constant pressure.

In the 79th minute, Gudjohnsen, Joe Johansen. Kerr's clever pass left the home defenders exhausted, and while Robben's back-of-the-road strike wasn't great, defender Taylor's thigh helped a lot.

Sky TV, which remained neutral, said: "I blocked the door for most of the game, but at the end of the game, I blocked my own door." This is called self-inflicted. (To be continued......)