Glenn Hoddle

WHEN Chelsea went to Wembley to play Tottenham last April, in the run-up to the match, you wondered whether it might be a pivotal moment. After all, Chelsea had just lost to Crystal Palace and Manchester United; Tottenham were chasing them down in the league; and though there were no points at stake in an FA Cup semi-final, you knew that if Spurs could just land a psychological blow, maybe it would turn the whole season. Of course, Chelsea won the match 4-2, which provided the momentum to finish the job in the Premier League. But what was even more significant that day was Chelsea’s bench. Antonio Conte started the game without Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas. When it was 2-2, he could bring on Hazard and Costa and then, later, Fabregas. Hazard broke the deadlock and Nemanja Matic sealed the win with a stunning goal. The fact that Conte could draw on players of that quality when necessary illustrated the gap between Chelsea and Spurs. One had a great starting XI, but the other had some depth to their squad. If you had said to me that day that Chelsea would be heading back to Wembley today to play Spurs with a significantly weaker squad, I would have laughed in disbelief. Everything was set up for Chelsea this summer to kick on again. As champions, it’s a lot easier to build a squad. You have momentum and players want to come. It was a key moment. Though Conte had more depth than Tottenham for that semi-final, it was clear through last season that Chelsea didn’t have the kind of depth that Manchester City, United or even Arsenal had. He had salvaged the season with a change of tactics, his superb use of Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso, who we wouldn’t have seen as being key to a title-winning side, and by benefiting from the lack of European fixtures. Chelsea’s board of directors, to some extent, got away with it. But having succeeded against the odds, you might have expected the club to build on those foundations to ensure they were odds-on to succeed in future, not least because the demands of being in the Champions League require a much larger squad. The performances of Real Madrid against United and against Barcelona in midweek showed, once again, the gulf that exists between our best teams and the best in