London Calling: Don’t call Chelsea boring, call them “dominant.”

“Boring, boring Chelsea” Arsenal fans jeered last Sunday afternoon at Chelsea, as the champions elect “ground out another result.”

By taking a point from the Gunners, Chelsea may win the title if they beat Leicester on Wednesday April 29th, and then in-form-of-late Crystal Palace on May 3rd.

That would mean guard of honor duties for Liverpool and Steven Gerrard when they come to Stamford Bridge for the Blues’ next fixture, which may in turn be one of Gerrard’s last acts before heading stateside to MLS.

It was all so different at the beginning of the season, though, wasn’t it? The plaudits poured in from all facets of the media, some even tipped Jose Mourinho’s squad to go un beaten for the entire season, stating that nobody could touch this Chelsea team.

That is until Chelsea’s loss to Newcastle United, and then the 5-3 drubbing against Spurs. It was then that Mourinho said “Ok, enough, now it’s time to buckle down and win the title.” Guess what? Chelsea are right on course to do that. But are Mourinho’s men really boring? There has been a lot of mixed reaction to the Arsenal fans chants, and to the sentiment of many fans on social media.

Former Arsenal legend Ian Wright penned a series of tweets saying how he cringed at Arsenal’s boo boys this weekend, ultimately calling it “pure jealousy at this point.”

The Telegraph in the United Kingdom conducted a poll asking fans who they thought the most entertaining team in the Premier League was.  The fan poll came back stating Arsenal had been the most entertaining team in the Premier League this season.

This is a position that people started taking during the season when Arsenal (in the Premier League, at least) were… well.. invincible. But it was an outlier season and it was part of a Premier League that was really, a two horse race. Arsenal haven’t won the title since. 

“The Invincible” Arsenal team was the most entertaining team that I have ever seen. They were free flowing, fast paced, and direct in their attacking. I feared when Arsenal would come to Stamford Bridge because I was already resigned to defeat, not something I can ever say I thought about Barcelona pre, or during, Messi’s reign. 

That “Invincibles” team scored just 73 goals and amassed just 90 points.

The record in the Premier League for goals scored? Chelsea, 103 goals. The record for points in a Premier League season? Chelsea with 95. If the “invincibles” are the most exciting team i’ve ever watched, then why are a Chelsea side capable of scoring 73 goals this season — and one that holds the Premier League goals record — “boring?”

Maybe Arsenal’s seemingly perennial “most entertaining team” award is something that needs to be looked at. After all how can a team with no championship in 10 years be the most entertaining, and if they are, what purpose does it serve? It’s not helping Arsenal win championships, that’s for sure.

How about the George Graham Arsenal? “One-nil to the Arsenal” fans would cheer with glee. It wasn’t boring then, so why is it now?

Up until February 11th, Chelsea had not won a game by only 1 goal to 0, since then they have won 3 more games 1-0. A big reason for this? Diego Costa’s dodgy hamstring for sure, but another more important reason? Jose Mourinho knew the title was already won, it was merely time to bring it back to Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho’s men have scored 65 goals, the second most in the Premier League, have averaged the most shots on goal per game at 18.2, and have averaged the 3rd best shots against per game. They have been allowing opponents a paltry 10.3 shots per game against them. In short Mourinho’s Chelsea are dominant, much like Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea were dominant when they scored 103 goals.

Chelsea are about to set a record for being top of the Premier League. Neutrals can criticize how they achieved all of these Premier League records, but I’m not sure Chelsea fans will care. They just care about winning, and that’s what Mourinho’s Chelsea team are going to carry on doing. 

We are at an interesting point in English soccer. We have just come off an era of unprecedented period of attacking prowess, maybe we should attribute a slightly weakened league for that. Now though, the Premier League is as strong as it’s ever been — it’s tougher than ever for teams to score goals.

For example it wasn’t always a fact that the team that scored the most goals won the Premier League. Two teams last season scored over 100 goals, that has never before been achieved in the Premier League. In-fact only 3 teams have scored over 100 goals since 2001/2002. Liverpool, Manchester City, and Chelsea. In the early days of the Premier League though, it wasn’t always the case.

The goals in the Premier League have been on the rise as of late. Not losing to the 2nd placed team in the league used to be “the kind of result that champions go out and get,” now? We expect the team top of the league to trounce every one. The reality is, we are living in an anomaly era, and the goals will regress to their mean.

Arsenal have completed the most passes in the Premier League, they’re voted the most entertaining team to watch, but ultimately, they haven’t scored as many goals and are 10 points behind leaders Chelsea. Pundits seem to love this possession based style of football so much that we forget what the game of soccer is really about.

Jose Mourinho aired his thoughts on the subject on Tuesday morning saying that in the future he imagines the game of soccer will be played “on a green carpet of grass with no goals, and the winner of the game is the one with most possession.” Mourinho also offers very simple analysis of what the game of soccer is about — score more goals than your opponent scores.

You can watch his full explanation here

In a world where we are distracted by hyper-realistic video games like the FIFA series, reality must set back in. 500 five yard passes in the center of the field and five in the attacking third is not entertaining; it’s boring. When the team who passes 505 times loses, despite having 80% possession it’s suddenly a crime against the “beautiful” game? Spare me. 

We must not lose sight of what soccer is really about: Putting the ball in the back of your opponents net more than they put it in yours — It only takes a few seconds to score a goal. If a team is having more than 60% of the possession and the outcome is that they come home with less than one point they are practicing, not playing. They are keeping the football to prevent the opponent playing.

People call Chelsea boring, Chelsea fans tell you they aren’t boring. This back and forth about whether this is a boring side is, well, BORING. It’s boring because this Chelsea team aren’t “boring,” they’re dominant. 

Boring is a term people throw at a team or a person that dominate the sport they are watching. Really all it does is highlight a frustration that people have with their own team:

Remember when Michael Schumacher dominated Formula One for years? You knew he was going to win, it was “boring” to watch, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t the best racer in the best car and guess what? You watched anyway!

Was it “fun” to watch Tiger Woods dominate the PGA Tour for years? Nobody criticized him for being boring.

Was it “boring” to watch Michael Phelps dominate swimming? How about Muhammed Ali in boxing? The Miami Heat during LeBron James years?

There is no such thing as a neutral favorite any more. It just does not happen, not really in any sport. Liverpool thought that the world was on their side last year as they made a push for the Premier League title. But when Gerrard slipped and Demba Ba raced through, ensuring Liverpool’s demise, there were more fans delighted with their downfall than were disappointed.

Ultimately Jose Mourinho has no responsibility to pander to the aesthetic needs of anybody but Chelsea fans, and Chelsea’s fans will be pleased enough once John Terry is lifting the Premier League trophy atop a bus in South-West London.

Follow on Twitter: @scottnicholls