Bridge posted 26 points to move 39 places – the highest for a defender this week – to 278th in the Index with 108 points.

The England international also made 19 passes, one dribble and one cross in the 1-0 success over Boro which moved Chelsea to within five points of Premier League leaders Manchester United.

Chelsea have four players in the top 25, with Frank Lampard (437) in 17th and Salomon Kalou (436) one place behind, while Joe Cole (420) and Nicolas Anelka (419) lie 21st and 24th respectively.

Analysis of all Premier League games is taking place throughout the season and the players in the Actim Index Team of the Week are:

The Actim Index is calculated using a unique mathematical formula that rates each player’s contribution be it goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, assists, clean sheets, time on the pitch or number of points gained by the team with marks deducted for red and yellow cards.

The clash down at Stamford Bridge sees Arsenal desperately trying to halt their blip, which has seen them draw each of their last four Premier League matches. It also brings together two midfield heavyweights in Cesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard.

Fabregas started the season in sparkling form as the Gunners began in stunning style, while Lampard had a slow start – but is now coming back to his best form. That is reflected with his 100-point haul in the Actim Index this week thanks to four goals against Derby – which earned him 76 and the second-highest match index of the season so far – and a further 24 from the 1-0 win at Sunderland. He is up 37 places to 15th in the overall standings after his impressive week.

Fabregas has played 2463 minutes – compared to 1644 from Lampard – but is only 84 points ahead in the Index, with 494 points compared to 410.

Lampard has 10 goals to Fabregas’ seven, but the Spaniard has twice as many assists with 14 to Lampard’s seven. Fabregas also has more than 300 more passes than his Chelsea rival, and 30 winning tackles to 19, possibly reflecting the difference in role the players have in their respective sides.

Either way, their battle will go a long way to settling the second big game on a day that could well be pivotal in the race for the Barclays Premier League title.

The Actim Index is calculated using a unique mathematical formula that rates each player’s contribution be it goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, assists, clean sheets, time on the pitch or number of points gained by the team with marks deducted for red and yellow cards.

The England star netted 75 points after his four-goal haul against Derby last midweek – the second highest individual match score of the season.

And he followed it up with another 25 points in the 1-0 win at Sunderland on Saturday to climb 37 places into 15th overall as the Blues’ title challenge rumbles on.

It was a good week for Avram Grant’s men, six of his squad were named in the Team of the Week helped by the fact they were one of four teams with two Barclays Premier League matches played.

Analysis of all Premiership games is taking place throughout the season and the players in the Actim Index Team of the Week are:

Name (Points)
David James (35)
Paulo Ferreira (40)
Hermann Hreidarsson (48)
John Terry (47)
Ashley Cole (37)
Cristiano Ronaldo (32)
Frank Lampard (100)
Stephen Ireland (33)
Joe Cole (43)
Jermain Defoe (75)
Salomon Kalou (57)

The Actim Index is calculated using a unique mathematical formula that rates each player’s contribution be it goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, assists, clean sheets, time on the pitch or number of points gained by the team with marks deducted for red and yellow cards.

Like Top Gear’s ‘Stig’, we don’t yet know his real name.  Some say it was in fact his grasp of numbers that cracked the enigma code, and also that he was a university lecturer for Stephen Hawking. All we know is that he calls himself; The Statman.

Joe Cole and Juliano Belletti were named in the team of the week in The Actim Index, the official player ratings system of the Barclays Premier League, after helping Chelsea stretch their unbeaten run to eight games. Cole moved up 31 places to 63rd with 226 points, as he posted a season-high 38 points in the 2-0 victory over rivals Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge.

Belletti opened the scoring with another long-range thunderbolt – though his first goal at home – as he registered 34 points; his highest score of the season, which moved him up 12 spots to 58th, with 240 points.  Chelsea now have three players in the top 50; Frank Lampard (289 points) in 22nd place, Salomon Kalou 17th (316) with new-boy Nicolas Anelka (318) ranking highest in 16th place.

After the Spurs match, Avram Grant admitted he couldn’t have asked anything more of Anelka after the Frenchman made his debut as a second-half substitute.  Grant revealed he hadn’t planned to use the striker, but an injury to Claudio Pizarro during the 2-0 win forced him to introduce Anelka into the action, where he was denied a debut goal by Spurs goalkeeper Radek Cerny, as well as the woodwork.

With Didier Drogba away on international duty for the Ivory Coast in the African Nations Cup, a lot of responsibility for carrying Chelsea’s trophy chase will fall on his shoulders. I take a look at if Anelka can fill the void.

• Anelka has netted 10 goals in 19 games while Drogba has five in 11.
• Anelka has scored a goal every 174.4 minutes and Drogba is on target every 184.8 minutes.
• Anelka (31) has more than double the shots on target as Drogba, whose 16 shots off target is four more than his new team-mate.
• Anelka has produced more passes (201), dribbles (nine) and crosses (15) than Drogba (85, five and 10 respectively) although both players have three assists apiece.

The stats appear to show that Anelka will be a more than an adequate replacement for the big Ivorian, and if Chelsea can keep pace until the end of the African Cup of Nations, then a front pairing of Drogba and Anelka could just fire Chelsea to a trophy or two.

The Actim Index is the official player ratings system of the Barclays Premiership and Coca-Cola Championship, which has been statistically proven to identify the best players. It’s calculated using a unique mathematical formula that rates each player’s contribution be it goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, assists, clean sheets, time on the pitch or number of points gained by the team with marks deducted for red and yellow cards.