IF there's one thing more boring than Premiership football at the moment, it is having to listen to people bemoan how boring Premiership football is.

The last fortnight has seen an all-out assault on the myriad of problems that are supposedly killing the beautiful game in this country.

Some points are unanswerable. It is almost impossible to find a football fan who does not think that ticket prices are too high and that Sky TV's saturation coverage of the game is causing considerable harm.

But, by far the most controversial criticism, has been the catch-all comment that top-flight football has become both predictable and dull.

Statistics exist to bear this claim out. Before this weekend's action, Premiership clubs were averaging less than two goals a game - a benchmark that has always been passed in previous seasons - while Chelsea's perfect start has already seen them pull six points clear of Charlton and ten points ahead of their expected rivals, Manchester United.

But the logical next step of this debate - that Chelsea themselves are boring - is both worrying and wrong.

When Aston Villa striker Luke Moore fired past Petr Cech on Saturday he became the first player to breach the Chelsea defence in more than 580 minutes of football this season.

Six successive clean sheets had seen the champions blasted for being bad to watch - the safety-first sentiment currently sweeping the top-flight taken to its excruciating extreme.

Yet, amidst all the mud-slinging, it is important to make a distinction between sides who set out with the over-riding intention of being difficult to break down, such as Blackburn or Bolton, and sides who achieve that aim through their defensive skill.

Chelsea did not go six games without conceding a goal because they packed ten men behind the ball and refused to stray into the opposition's half - they did so because they had some of the best defenders in the world playing to the peak of their powers. There is a crucial difference.

It will be a sad day when defensive ability is seen as something to be ashamed of rather than something to shout about.

The beauty of football, and the thing that elevates it above a host of alternatives, is that it is actually quite difficult to score a goal. The whole premise of the game rests on the battle between attack and defence.

If you want to watch a team scoring every time they pass the halfway line, go and watch basketball. If you don't, acknowledge the fact that defensive talent is equally as worthy of praise as attacking finesse.

The sight of Cech making a fingertip save or John Terry straining every sinew to slide in with a last-gasp challenge is every bit as exhilarating as the image of Thierry Henry curling into the top corner from the edge of the area.

In effect, they are two sides of the same coin. One saves a goal, one scores a goal - the effect on the state of the game is exactly the same.

It is not even as if Chelsea's defensive brilliance is anything new. The most cursory of looks through the record books will show that the vast majority of previous champions have built their success on the bedrock of a watertight defence.

While Jose Mourinho's side conceded just 15 goals on their way to winning the title last season, Liverpool's record of shipping just 16 goals from 42 games in 1978-79 makes them the most miserly champions of all time.

Yet it is difficult to find anyone who remembers Bob Paisley's side as boring. Rock solid, yes. Hard to break down, definitely. But boring? Never.

Tellingly, when Graeme Souness was asked to extol the values of his Anfield heyday last week, the first thing he said was, "We could stop the opposition". It was not meant as an apology.

Arsenal were saddled with the "boring" tag when they won two titles in the late 1980s and early 1990s and Sir Alex Ferguson put Manchester United's championship win in 1996 down to a succession of 1-0 wins that eventually broke the back of their nearest rivals, Newcastle. Ultimately, though, both sides are remembered, primarily, as winners.

It is to be hoped Chelsea are judged as such if, as expected, they waltz to a second successive title later this season.

There are plenty of reasons to criticise the Blues, Roman Abramovich's phenomenal wealth, Mourinho's arrogance and the club's general lack of respect for the game's moral values being among them.

But keeping clean sheets does not fall into that category. Rather than bemoaning one more shut-out, we should be celebrating yet another brilliant demonstration of the defender's art.