How Chelsea manager proved four into three does go

IT took Antonio Conte six games to produce the tactical masterstroke that would eventually take Chelsea to the brink of the Premier League title.

Conte’s first four matches had featured a back four including Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry and after six games Chelsea had already lost twice.

By their sixth match — a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal — David Luiz had replaced Terry in the back four.

Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso had yet to start a match for Conte, who had Willian and Eden Hazard on the flanks. Seven days later, at Hull, Conte made the switches that would prove so significant. The back four became a back three of Azpilicueta, Luiz and Gary Cahill.

Moses and Alonso came in to flank Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante, while Hazard was pushed forward to support Diego Costa.

So effective was Conte’s overhaul that Chelsea did not drop another point in the Premier League for threeand-a-half months.