On paper Chelsea’s team sheet looked like an insult, one for the anti-football brigade to get their beaks into after Jose Mourinho went without an orthodox striker. When reality bites, even his biggest detractors must concede that Mourinho’s decision to leave Didier Drogba on the bench until the start of the second half was another tactical masterclass. Chelsea’s manager is staying true to the game — his game — because the end result will be a fourth Barclays Premier League title for this football club. Chelsea's Jose Mourinho gestures on the sideline after going into the game against Arsenal without a striker . Oscar was part of a front three who interchanged roles during the first half to great effect for their boss . At times you are left wondering what Eden Hazard, Willian and Oscar make of it all when Mourinho starts working on team shape six days before a clash with Arsenal. This trio have an element of fantasy about their game, with those delightful touches around the corner and the clever wall passes that they can play at will. The master simply wants results. To start without a striker, to ignore the collective groans around the country by starting Willian in a deeply withdrawn role behind Hazard and Oscar, was a statement of intent. Mourinho was forced into it, of sorts, because he has been deprived of Diego Costa and Loic Remy in recent weeks, and his warrior Drogba could not train all week. Even so, you would not put it past Mourinho — who pulled a similar stunt by playing Andre Schurrle as a false nine at Manchester United last season — to have done it anyway. When it comes to work-rate, discipline and desire, no-one can accuse these players of cheating. Everyone has a job to do in this team. Chelsea mastermind Mourinho surveys the pitch before kick-off having plotted out his game plans . Eden Hazard leads a trio with Willian and Oscar that has fantasy about their play but Mourinho wants function . Strikers Loic Remy (left) and Diego Costa are both working their way back to fitness with leg injuries . To watch Hazard, the PFA player of the year, Oscar and Willian sacrifice their A-game for the greater good of the team demonstrates a unique commitment to Mourinho’s methods. They have bought in. What happened to the style, the swagger and the pomp about the team who won so handsomely at Swansea, putting five past Garry Monk’s side without reply at the Liberty Stadium on January 17? They traded it for Mourinho’s tactics, using the extra time during the week following their Champions League elimination against Paris Saint-Germain for match-specific preparation. With only one game a week since Chelsea went out on away goals on March 11, Mourinho has used the time on the training field to prepare for Premier League matches as a one-off. But Didier Drogba was available to Mourinho and he only used the Ivorian when Oscar went off injured . There is no question who had the upper hand in the managerial tactical battle, and it wasn't Wenger . Willian was exceptional for his manager, pestering the Arsenal midfield when the Blues were without the ball . Ramires comes close after a ball into the box from Willian but is thwarted by Arsenal keeper David Ospina . Against Manchester United he deliberately conceded possession, suffocating Marouane Fellaini and waited to hit Louis van Gaal’s team on the break. They won 1-0, even if it was far from pretty. Here at the Emirates, against a team with eight successive wins in the Premier League, he bewildered their defence by allowing his front three to rotate. Willian was exceptional as he flitted across Arsenal’s back line and pestered Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin when he wanted to win back the ball. The Brazilian forward engineered Chelsea’s best chance, a clever angled ball in the first half that found the feet of Ramires running into the box. Arsenal keeper David Ospina saved well. This was perfectly disciplined, if uncomfortable to watch at times as Mourinho looked on approvingly from the sidelines. When he was forced into a change at the break because Oscar had been ferried to hospital with suspected concussion following his collision with Ospina, he turned to the experience of Drogba. Oscar soars high in pursuit of the ball as Ospina comes out quickly to intercept . The pair clashed with Ospina considered lucky to be on the pitch after viewing the replays . Oscar was substituted at half-time having not recovered from the blow with Ospina . At the age of 37 he served his team-mates well in the second half, chasing 60 yards towards his own goal at one point to stop the forward run of Nacho Monreal down the left. Towards the end of the second half, as this game gravitated towards its inevitable conclusion, Chelsea relied on their captain John Terry’s leadership skills to see it home. A year ago this team was experimental, with various formations on trial as Mourinho assembled his next title-winning team. Here at the Emirates, it has finally taken shape.
Chelsea played out a 0-0 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday .
Jose Mourinho started with no striker despite having Didier Drogba .
His tactics were not pretty but of deserving Premier League champions .
Willian gave perhaps his best performance in a Chelsea shirt .