Chelsea can almost taste the league title

JUST as Chelsea looked like they may be starting to wobble slightly, they beat Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semifinal and sealed a 4-2 victory over Southampton on Tuesday.

Despite being title favourites for several months now, Chelsea can’t quite shrug off Mauricio Pochettino’s men, and their trip to Everton today could be tricky.

Almost every time their mettle has been put into question this season, Chelsea have responded in style — a win at Goodison Park may effectively be a title clincher. A number of top sides have struggled there this season, though, with Arsenal and Manchester City beaten, and Manchester United held to a draw. Liverpool won, of course.

Antonio Conte’s Blues should have enough to get the better of their opponents, but funny things can happen at this stage of the season. Dropped points would add even more spice to the north London derby later in the day.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has confirmed he was paying close attention to Everton striker Romelu Lukaku this week, but with a view to stopping him scoring against them rather than signing him in the summer.

Chelsea have been linked with the Belgian they sold to Everton for £28-million as a possible replacement for Diego Costa, who has admirers in China.

Lukaku is the league’s top scorer, with 24 goals to Costa’s 19, and will provide Everton’s main threat as Chelsea seek to extend a four-point lead over Spurs.

“I think he is a really good player and is scoring a lot of goals in this season, not only this season, we must pay great attention,” Conte said on Friday.

“But it is the same, to find the right solution to stop them. We must find the right solution to stop Lukaku and all the other players.”

A win for Chelsea would confirm qualification for next season’s Champions League in a match billed as their last serious hurdle to winning the title, with only Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion, Watford and Sunderland to overcome.

But Conte was keen not to look beyond today, highlighting the need for his team to keep a clean sheet after conceding in their past 11 matches, including Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Southampton.

“It’s important to improve, to work on the situations we are conceding the goals. We are working on it. Everton are a really good team, a strong team, with great players in their squad and a physical team,” said Conte.

“When we started this season, our first target was to play in the Champions League next season. It’s an important target for the club, for the fans, for the players.

“But, for sure, now we stay in a position to try also to win the league.”

The 47-year-old Italian, got an early sight of silverware this week when he sat beside Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to watch the club’s under-18 team beat Manchester City 6-2 on aggregate, going into the dressing room afterwards to congratulate the youngsters. —

It’s important to improve, to work on the situations we’re conceding the goals. We are working on it