Quality FA Cup win over Spurs shows Chelsea have what it takes to finish the season with the double

Quality FA Cup win over Spurs shows Chelsea have what it takes to finish the season with the double

Will Chelsea finish this year as champions of England?

If you asked this question last month you would have been deemed a fool who knew nothing about football, the answer seemed so obvious.

At that point, the Blues were sitting pretty with a 10-point lead over their closest challenger, rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. But with the men from the Lane going on a 7-game winning streak and Chelsea wobbling with defeats at home to Palace and away to United it really is all to play for right now.

Chelsea have been going through a tough patch recently and as Conte has recently admitted, they’re in a little trouble right now. The 10-point gap has closed to 4. The previously impenetrable defence looks incredibly leaky right now. Diego Costa, the talismanic figure of the first half of the campaign has not been able to buy a goal in recent games, hence the manager made the big call to leave his striker on the bench and to give the patient young forward Michy Batshuayi a rare start in the FA Cup today.

Willian

Remarkably, Chelsea have conceded in 10 Premier League games on the bounce, that is some stat for the would be champions. The Blue’s are having to score at least 2 goals to win their games at the moment. This is not something they would want to continue at all, as the gap closes and the tension builds they will need to get back to grinding out results. Such as in the 3 games they won by 1 goal to 0 in a row back in December when the games were coming thick and fast.

As previously touched on, Diego Costa hasn’t scored in 6 matches. In his last game the Spanish International looked more interested in fighting Rojo and the like than actually putting the ball in the net. Rumours are flying round as to whether his head is in the right place amid speculation of a £650,000-a-week offer from China. Clearly, Conte felt he needed to drop the Spaniard in the hope that his form picks up after a game starting on the bench.

Chelsea fans should take heart from the fact that goals are flowing elsewhere in the side though, despite the blank they drew at Old Trafford last time out the Blues had managed 18 goals in the 8 games previous to that. Star man Hazard has been particularly impressive in recent weeks, finding the net in 4 of his last 6 league games. If the Belgian can keep up that form, and the rest of his team mates can continue to chip in as they have been, even a misfiring Costa won’t be enough to halt Chelsea’s march to the Premier League title and the FA Cup but no-one expected Hazard not to start vs Spurs today.

Knowing he needed to have his team ready for the undeniably serious challenge posed by Pochettino’s Spurs outfit, Antonio Conte went with the double bold move of starting Willian and Michy Batshuayi in place of Eden Hazard and Diego Costa. This showed that the Italian manager knows exactly when to make big selections and judging by the response from his two stars he has the whole squad singing from the same hymn sheet.

Chelsea were never behind against Spurs and defended resolutely throughout. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have let in the least amount of goals of any club in the Premier League so banging in 4 goals against them is no mean feat. Hazard, who scored the winner with his left footer from outside the area, revealed in his post game interview that he knew on Friday he would not be starting and that he was right behind the selection of Willian who backed up his manager by scoring Chelsea’s first 2 goals.

Diego Costa did not seem irked by his role as sub either. Costa seemed up for it when he replaced the willing Batshuayi and came on at 2-2 with Hazard as they helped to restore Chelsea’s initiative again. Costa worked well for the team and was unlucky not to score from a Fabregas cross which was just a little too high for him to get enough power into his header.

So Chelsea can get back to business in the Premier League with their next game coming vs Southampton on Tuesday April 25th at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues now know that the double is very much on as they can look forward to the showpiece FA Cup final at Wembley on May 27th, 2017 against either Arsenal or Man City.

The victory over Tottenham is a big psychological boost as Antonio Conte’s side have now registered 2 wins this season compared to Spurs’ solitary win in early January. For their next League fixture, Spurs face a tough trip away to in-form Crystal Palace on Wednesday 26th April so Chelsea will have the chance to move 7 points up on their rivals and apply the pressure that such a lead will exert.

Chelsea were tested again today but Nemanja Matic’s late long-range thunderbolt strike into the top corner of Hugo Lloris’ goal was a stunning exclamation point to the victory. The win over Tottenham under the circumstances confirmed that the Blues managed by Antonio Conte are ready to face whatever is thrown at them and to deal with it head-on – their rivals in the Champions League next season should pay attention.