BEATING LED TO CHELSEA REVIVAL

® NEMANJA MATIC has put Chelsea’s transformation back into title contenders down to one thing – Arsenal.

The Blues thrashed Manchester United 4-0 on Sunday to climb to within a point of leaders Manchester City.

But midfielder Matic, 28, claims it was the embarrassment of losing 3-0 at the Gunners four weeks ago that helped spark the Chelsea revival.

Since then Antonio Conte’s side have beaten Hull, Leicester and United without conceding a goal in the Italian’s new-look 3-4-3 formation.

Matic said: “You know sometimes you need to lose a game to wake up. The Arsenal game was a wake-up call for us.

“We knew that we had to do better, to want more and we did that.

“It’s easy to say we needed to work harder but after Arsenal we knew we had to show that we had quality and we have done that in the last three games.

“We have showed quality, we don’t concede, and we score goals. I think at the moment we are playing very good.

Motivated

“The last three games we win and it’s very important to continue like this. It’s not easy to win 4-0 against a strong team like United. We won a big game.”

Chelsea absolutely thrashed Jose Mourinho’s United side and looked even more motivated for the game than usual.

However, Matic insists they were not trying to prove a point to their old boss.

Mourinho burned his bridges with some of his former players by criticising them in public last season and they were booed by Chelsea fans after he was axed.

But Matic said: “He was our coach and we respect him, me especially. He brought me back from Benfica. I have to say I have great respect for him.”

Chelsea were eight points behind City when they lost to Arsenal.

But Matic believes they are now right back in the title race.

The Serbian ace added: “It’s a long season so we will see what is going to happen until May.”

Matic also believes the change to three at the back has worked wonders and that his partnership with N’Golo Kante in midfield is starting to blossom.

He said: “N’Golo is a great player. It’s a pleasure for me to play with him.

“We work every day to see what the coach wants from us in this formation, because it’s new to us. I really enjoy it.” JOHN TERRY expects to make his first start since his return from injury in tomorrow’s League Cup fourthround tie at West Ham.