Bridge proving hard to beat

Chelsea earned their 19th clean sheet in 25 Premiership games on Wednesday night by shutting out a combative Blackburn side.

While Petr Cech has been the focus of the plaudits, the presence of Wayne Bridge in The Blues' rearguard has been a significant scourge on their opponents' goalscoring ambitions.

In his debut season in the English top flight, Cech has played each of the 2,250 Premiership minutes this term conceding just eight goals in the process.

The Czech Republic international has been fortunate to line up behind the league's meanest defence, which has allowed the league's lowest average of just 2.2 shots per game.

John Terry has been the only ever-present member of that back four, so like Cech averages a goal against every 281 minutes.

But it is on the left-hand side of Chelsea's defence that has emerged an unsung hero. In the 968 Premiership minutes that Wayne Bridge has played this season, only James Beattie's opening-minute strike back in August has breached The Blues' defence.

Player	Appearances	Mins Played	Goals Conceded	Mins per Goal Conceded
Bridge	13	968	1	968
Terry	25	2250	8	281
Ferreira	24	2160	8	270
Gallas	19	1637	7	234
Carvalho	16	1249	8	156