Conte on cloud nine as Chelsea juggernaut rolls on
ANTONIO Conte’s Chelsea juggernaut rolls back into action against West Bromwich Albion today with the Premier League leaders chasing a ninth consecutive win.
Chelsea produced the most impressive display of their winning streak last weekend when they came from behind to win 3-1 at Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
They have not won nine successive league games within the same season since 2007 and ahead of West Brom’s visit Marcos Alonso has urged his teammates not to let their level drop.
“Winning game after game gives you confidence, but you have to keep working,” the Spanish wingback told the Chelsea website.
“The results give you confidence to work in this way, though. We have got to use this momentum of the last eight league games and go on to have another good game against West Brom now.”
While most of Chelsea’s title rivals have been in European action this week, Conte’s side have once again had a full week to prepare for the visit of Tony Pulis’s side.
It is 32 years since West Brom last won at Chelsea, but they have drawn on two of their last three visits and have climbed to seventh in the table on a four-game unbeaten run.
“[Chelsea] are on a great run of form,” West Brom manager Pulis told the club website. “The manager’s come in and he’s changed things around and got the players playing the way they can. It’s a wonderful, wonderful squad of players. But we’ll go there and do our best.”
Chelsea’s irresistible form, which has seen the London club surge to the top of the Premier League, is no fluke. Saturday’s 3-1 victory at title rivals City left them three points ahead of Arsenal.
Chelsea’s success has been attributed to Conte with the coach selecting a group of players to execute a system (3-4-3) that he used to good effect in his native Italy.
A combination of circumstance, aptitude, attitude and positive results has seen Conte pretty much stick with the same starting XI throughout the winning run. Prior to the City match a Chelsea team comprising Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Gary Cahill, Victor Moses, Marcos Alonso, Nemanja Matic, N’Golo Kante, Pedro, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa had lined up six times in a row.
At the Etihad, Conte was forced into a change as Matic had to withdraw from the squad because of a muscle problem. Cesc Fabregas filled the breach and made a telling contribution to the outcome of the game when picking out Costa with a precision pass from which the prolific Blues striker equalised.
So did Fabregas do enough against City to retain his place in Chelsea’s side should Matic be fit to return for the Blues? Or will the 29-year-old midfielder be benched again?
Prior to the City match, Fabregas had started just three games under Conte. Decent performances in EFL Cup ties against Bristol Rovers and Leicester City earned the Spain international a call up for the Premier League game which followed the defeat of Leicester.
Fabregas lined up against his former club Arsenal, but Chelsea had a shocker. Going 3-0 down inside 40 minutes, Conte hauled off Fabregas shortly after half time, sent on Alonso, switched from four to three at the back and the Blues looked a far more rigid proposition — though it didn’t change the score.
Having had preseason to assess Fabregas, a lack of game time even before the much-trumpeted switch to 3-4-3 suggests that what Conte was seeing during coaching sessions and on the pitch didn’t match his exacting requirements.
Given Fabregas’ pedigree, it’s only natural that rumours would start linking the player with a move away from Stamford Bridge, with West Ham United and AC Milan being talked about as possible destinations in the January transfer window.
Shaka Hislop says he can’t find a deficiency in Chelsea’s squad, and backs them as league favourites.
The emphatic nature of the upswing in Chelsea’s fortunes, aligned with the emergence of players like Alonso, Pedro and Moses in particular, has seen Blues fans’ belief in Conte and his coaching principles rise meteorically.
Debates on social media about playing Fabregas are a thing of the past. Curiously, it has been left to the Spaniard’s countryman, Azpilicueta, to champion a case for his retention at the Bridge with the versatile defender heralding Fabregas as a game changer because of his slick passing. — COMMON SIGHT: Chelsea manager Antonio Conte celebrates another Chelsea goal
We have got to use this momentum of the last eight games and go on to have another good game against West Brom now