A Look At Chelsea’s Chances Of Silverware This Season

A Look At Chelsea’s Chances Of Silverware This Season

A hard earned 1-0 win over Middlesbrough in their last but one game saw Chelsea go top the table for the first time this season and the bookmakers installed them as second favourites to win the title, with betting odds of 13/5. They are the form team in the league right now and they look set to win a fifth Premiership title in May if they keep playing with this level of intensity. They followed up the Boro result with another win this past weekend as they came back from a goal down to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Stamford Bridge as Pedro and Victor Moses scored to secure Chelsea’s 7th win a row in the League as they stayed top of the Premier League, 1 point ahead of Man City and Liverpool in 2nd and 3 points ahead of Arsenal in 4th.

Few could have predicted this situation back on September 24, when the Blues had just been battered by Arsenal in a London derby fans will be keen to forget. Chelsea were outrun, outfought and outthought on their way to a 3-0 defeat that left them well off the pace in the title race. Arsenal broke at will, exploited the gaps with ease and put Chelsea to the sword with three first half goals. Eden Hazard barely got into the game, and Cesc Fabregas was so bad he had to be hauled off.

But everything changed when Antonio Conte switched to a new tactical system in the wake of that humbling defeat. Conte has always been a three at the back man. It served him phenomenally well at Juventus, where he won consecutive Serie A titles with consummate ease, and as manager of Italy, where his trusty quartet of Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli reunited to make them extremely hard to break down. Conte is renowned as a hard taskmaster, but he also knew that this squad had turned on previous boss Jose Mourinho for his aggressive ways, so instead of going in there and imposing his will – and his three at the back method – on a group of players prone to bouts of mutiny, he kept the four at the back system and let things play out, culminating in that defeat at the hands of Arsenal. But then he changed it to three at the back, and as a result they cannot stop winning.

They have picked up seven victories in a row, catapulting them right to the top of the table. During that period Arsenal have faltered, as have Man City, while Liverpool’s similarly impressive run was halted by a stubborn Southampton side. Middlesbrough have been similarly obstinate, holding both Arsenal and City to draws, but they could not contain Chelsea.

The Blues have simply been a revelation since Conte changed the system, and he was deservedly named Manager of the Month for October. The system – call it 3-4-3, 3-2-2-2-1, 3-4-2-1 or whatever you will – has brought the best out of the players at his disposal. Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill look more assured and David Luiz has been fantastic. Bringing in Victor Moses to inject energy and dynamism on the right hand side has been a masterstroke. Fabregas is out and Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante have formed a great partnership. But the biggest boost has been to Hazard, who no longer has to do the defensive work Mourinho demanded of him, and he is in sensational form, also bringing the best out of Diego Costa who is leading the League in scoring with 10 goals tied with Man City’s Sergio Aguero .

The betting odds on them have drifted all the way in, but that 13/5 still looks great value as Chelsea are not distracted by the Champions League or the EFL Cup after West Ham knocked them out at their new stadium in a shocking night of fan violence. The Blues may even strengthen in January. Conte has made it know he wants Bonucci. If he gets him, that will send a shiver of fear down the spines of their rivals, and those 13/5 betting odds might get even shorter. Chelsea have yet to start their FA Cup campaign and that will also provide them with another good chance of silverware