There are few players who were able to excel under last season’s circumstances. Willian and Fabregas were more than decent but other that, there was not much to notice from a positive perspective. It seems that the rumors regarding Mourinho and his inability to handle the locker room were true as several of the underperformers from last season have found their voices now that Conte has taken over. While players like Oscar held it in and avoided pointing fingers others like Hazard took a jab at the old management team.

“The coach has changed the formation; we are playing a different system to last season.

His training method is different to what we had last season and he’s changed both the players’ mentality and the team’s mentality. I think we have improved since he’s come here.

I think you can see that last season we were lacking a bit of resilience. We had that spirit in some games, but we weren’t consistent.

“It’s good to have that spirit back and we are looking to improve on that front. If we keep up this team spirit, we will be a threat in the Premier League.” – Oscar

Oscar played well under Conte and was kept at Stamford Bridge despite other clubs’ presenting serious interest for the Brazilian. He is expected to be the main man down the middle of the pitch after Fabregas has lost the confidence of the Italian boss.

“We needed organization. We went from winning the league to the disaster of last season. We lost our way tactically; everyone’s head was in different directions”

Everyone had different situations going on, whether you’re playing or not, the manager, or this or that. Different distractions are never healthy.

It is the hardest thing when everyone is not on the same wavelength. People talk as if you wake up one day and suddenly you’re a bog-standard player. It doesn’t happen” – Cahill

The center-back dropped in form last year but is looking like the main defender to build around this season. Hopefully a mental boost is all he needed to take charge and deliver consistently.

“I’ve always been the same player but Conte knows how to treat players having played at the highest level himself.” – Hazard

Last but not least we have Hazard who was clearly unhappy with the way things were going under Mourinho. Fortunately his form picked up and even though he has a lot of ground to cover to get back to his top form, Conte seems to have guided him in the right direction.

Swansea have only one win so far this season and are struggling for goals so you would have to expect the Blues to win the match and gain revenge for the loss they suffered last time the sides faced each other.

[Quotes sourced from Metro and Evening Standard]