"Brilliantly held defence together" – The People
"Best example of British fighting spirit" – Claudio Ranieri
"Tough barrier" – Manchester Evening News

Chelsea’s reputation as ‘soft southerners’ couldn’t be further from the truth these days.

The Londoners are prepared to get stuck in, battle it out when they are not playing well and regularly emerge with three points on their travels.

Captain John Terry must take a lot of credit. The England centre-half rolled up his sleeves at Manchester City on Saturday and led by example as his team scraped a 1-0 win that even goalscorer Eidur Gudjohnsen called "a robbery".

Chelsea resisted wave-after-wave of City attacks. But they only managed one serious effort on target as Terry made five key tackles, twice blocked shots and, impressively, conceded just one free-kick all afternoon.

Robbie Fowler must dread the thought of facing Terry again. Every time he got a glimpse of goal, the big centre-back was breathing down his neck to put him off.

Coming on the back of another clean sheet in Stuttgart, Chelsea – now second in the Premiership ahead of Manchester United - will still feel that silverware is possible this season.

"We have good foreign players here but also British fighting spirit. John Terry and Frank Lampard are the best examples, they are so important to my team," says Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.

Lion of the Weekend – Weekly Awards

Paul Scholes 4

Steve Gerrard 3
Frank Lampard 3

James Beattie 2
David Beckham 2
Jermain Defoe 2
Wayne Rooney 2
John Terry 2

Shola Ameobi 1
Kieron Dyer 1
Anthony Gardner 1
Emile Heskey 1
Glen Johnson 1
James Milner 1
Stefan Moore 1
Luke Moore 1
Kevin Nolan 1
Jermaine Pennant 1
Michael Owen 1

TheFA.com will announce their Lion of the Weekend every Monday. A Lion of the Season award will be announced in May based on the number of weekly nominations...