If there's one man who has received a lot of hate at Southampton, it is Cedric.

The Portugal international felt the full force of the Saints supporters' frustrations even after a win when they took aim at the right-back on Twitter following a recent victory against Norwich, before this bunch of Southampton fans on Twitter were not happy to see him in the starting XI against Newcastle the following week.

Despite this criticism, the former Sporting Lisbon man has continued to start games under Ralph Hasenhuttl and his performance in the 2-0 win over Chelsea on Boxing Day should silence the haters, for it was an excellent one.

The 28-year-old received the WhoScored Man of the Match award for his showing against Frank Lampard's men, earning a 7.74 match rating for his fine contributions.

Cedric was quite timid from an attacking point of view against the Blues, failing to register a shot, key pass or dribble, while also attempting just one cross which turned out to be an unsuccessful one anyway.

However, from a defensive aspect, there weren't many better than the Southampton No.2 in west London on Boxing Day.

Cedric contributed a whopping 17 successful defensive actions in total, in the form of four tackles, five interceptions and a whopping eight clearances - no player on the pitch made more clearances.

For a side who have conceded the second-most goals in the Premier League this season with 37 concessions in 19 games to keep a clean sheet at the home of a side who have scored the fifth-most goals takes some doing, and Cedric was a massive part in helping Hasenhuttl achieve this unlikely festive feat.

The right-back - who revealed that he will leave St Mary's after this season - may receive his fair share of hate from the Southampton fans on Twitter, although he silenced those haters emphatically with a committed display against Chelsea.

In other news, these Southampton fans were full of praise for one player's performance against Chelsea...