Chelsea captain John Terry hailed a “big step” as the Premier League leaders drew 0-0 at Arsenal to move closer to the title.
A shut-out against the only side with realistic hopes of catching them means Chelsea need just six points from their remaining five games to secure the title.
Terry made that much clear with his passionate celebrations at the end of the game, and he told Sky Sports 1: “It’s a big step to where we want to go.
“It’s not done mathematically, but it’s a big step and the big thing today was not to let Arsenal gain points.
“We’re almost there. We have a tough game on Wednesday, Leicester are fighting for points, but the job is in our hands.”
On the day he was named in the PFA Premier League team of the year, Terry added: “Arsenal made it tough, they’re a good side. They’ve been in great form and have world-class players.”
Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker conceded it had been one of those days.
“It’s difficult to explain. We had chances and defended well. Performance wise it was a good one but not enough to get the vital points we needed.”
For Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, Terry was the star of the show.
“I told John, in the six years with me, that is the best I have seen from him. He was absolutely amazing.
“It’s a point; we are in the countdown to the champions.”
Chelsea had a number of penalty appeals turned down, including one when ex-Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas was booked for simulation.
Mourinho has been outspoken on refereeing at this season, but refused to be critical this time.
“I don’t comment,” he said. “You have the screen, the technology, the repetitions, the pundits to analyse. I don’t want to analyse, I prefer to look at the performance and say the referee’s performance was good.
“Imagine if John Terry makes a mistake; his performance would still be amazing even with a mistake and I think the referee had a very good performance, with a couple of mistakes.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: “I think we had a performance we wanted, in the first half we had the right intensity but in the dangerous areas we lacked the right decisions.
“In the final 20 minutes we had dangerous situations again and some regrets. Overall it was a game when teams defended well.
“We have progressed very well and improved a lot since the start of the season.”
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