Conte has the Midas touch
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has had the golden touch in his first season in the English Premier League, all the way through to the title-clinching game.
With Chelsea scoreless at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday and looking like squandering the first of three opportunities to regain the trophy, Conte took the bold decision to remove star winger Eden Hazard and introduce substitute Michy Batshuayi, a player with just one goal to his name all season.
Within six minutes, Batshuayi was poking home a close-range finish and getting mobbed by teammates in front of Chelsea’s jubilant visiting fans.
It sealed a 1-0 win at The Hawthorns and Batshuayi had just won the league for Chelsea. He later referred to himself as an ‘‘unexpected hero’’ in a Twitter post.
‘‘The beauty of football,’’ Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas said, ‘‘a player who didn’t play a lot scores the winning goal for the championship.’’
Batshuayi’s 82nd-minute strike was only his second league goal, and first since August, in a tough first season in England.
As for Conte, it couldn’t have gone any better.
The Italian became the fourth manager — after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Manuel Pellegrini — to win the Premier League in his first season in English soccer, and he was thrown in the air by his celebrating players in joyous scenes after the final whistle.
His moves in the transfer market, his tactical switches, and his late substitutions have all come off. He has now won four straight domestic league titles, taking in three in a row with Juventus from 2012-14 before a spell in charge with Itay.
Chelsea’s players have gone from being champions in 2015, to finishing in 10th place in 2016 following the worst-ever Premier League title defence, to being champions again.
‘‘People have written us off as a team and individually,’’ Chelsea defender Gary Cahill said, ‘‘and this has shut them up.’’
Chelsea — the league leader since early November — have won 28 of their 36 games, including nine of their last 11 matches, to resist a late title challenge by Tottenham.
It could get even better for Conte’s team, which has reached the final of the FA Cup where Chelsea will play Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on May 27.
Meanwhile, Manchester City enjoyed a huge letoff in their quest for a top-four finish in the Premier League while Arsenal edged to within a point of fourth-placed Liverpool with an impressive victory yesterday.
A freakish penalty ‘miss’ by Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez at the Etihad Stadium allowed Manchester City to squeeze out a 2-1 victory that lifted them to third place, above Liverpool. Mahrez beat Willy Caballero with 13 minutes left but had slipped in his run-up and inadvertently struck the ball twice, once with each foot.
Eagle-eyed referee Robert Madley correctly applied the law and City breathed deeply before seeing out the rest of the game to stay on course for Champions League qualification.
‘‘When I saw the reaction from Willy, I understood immediately that it was two touches,’’ said City manager Pep Guardiola. ‘‘The referee was so brave in making the decision. I’ve seen that happen before, a long time ago! It’s not normal to see something like that, but it is what it is.’’
Arsenal maintained their late challenge with a classy 4-1 victory at Stoke City to keep the pressure on Liverpool, who now sit just one point above the in-form Gunners.
Olivier Giroud’s brace and goals from the brilliant duo of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil sealed an emphatic victory for Arsenal who have won five of their past six games to jump right back into contention.
Swansea took a huge step towards avoiding relegation after a 2-0 victory at hapless Sunderland.
In the battle for south coast bragging rights, Southampton beat Middlesbrough 2-1 with goals by Jay Rodriguez and Nathan Redmond keeping them above Bournemouth who beat Burnley 2-1 thanks to Joshua King’s late winner.