10 moments that won Chelsea the Premier League title
1 Changing the goalkeeping coach
Thibaut Courtois was not happy working under Christophe Lollichon, so Antonio Conte brought in his own specialist, Gianluca Spinelli, which helped convince the Belgian to stay. Courtois seems to have been happier with his work this season and this has been evident in his performances. Effectively demoting Lollichon, who is close to owner Roman Abramovich, was a bold move but it paid off.
2 Signing N’Golo Kanté
Rarely has a £30 million signing been described a bargain, but Kanté has been just that for Chelsea – particularly when you consider he often does the work of two men. The midfielder was voted PFA Player of the Year and he has even managed to improve on his performances in Leicester’s title-winning season. Conte has stressed the need for Kanté to look to pass forwards more often and he has taken that on.
3 Taking a gamble on David Luiz
It looked like a crazy move for Chelsea to bring back the Brazilian, who did not seem to fit Conte’s safety-first approach. But the Italian created the perfect position for Luiz in the middle of a back three and has helped him cut out the ridiculous mistakes. Luiz has barely put a foot wrong and has proved superb value for money at around £30 million.
4 The switch to a back three
Three has been the magic number for Chelsea. Three goals down against Arsenal after 55 minutes, Conte sent on summer signing Marcos Alonso to replace Cesc Fabregas in perhaps the mostm significant change of the season. Chelsea’s new-look back three did not concede any more goals and Conte had found a system that he trusted. Victor Moses stepped in at right wingback for the following victory over Hull and Conte had cracked it. Even Arsène Wenger has followed suit.
5 Setting up a supper club
Conte quickly highlighted the fact that he needed to bring back a sense of togetherness inside Chelsea. He set up a supper club for the players and coaches to go out and eat as a group at, among other places, London’s trendy Nobu restaurant. It was not just the players who got the personal touch, either. Conte made a surprise personal appearance at the staff Christmas party and gave a speech to the receptionists, door attendants and security staff, thanking them for their hard work.
6 Winning at Manchester City
This was the moment in December that Chelsea really started to believe they could win the title. A year earlier, they would have been comfortably dispatched by Pep Guardiola’s team after falling a goal behind and struggling to get hold of the ball. But Conte’s men displayedplayed the kind of clinical edge that became a feature of their success to securee a victory that hat flooded the squad with ith belief. It also proved to o be a turning point for r Fabregas s under Conte.
77 Equa Equalling Arsenal’sArsen record
Chelsea beat Manches Manchester United, EEverton, Manches Manchester City and TottenhamTott HotspuHotspur during their winningw run thatth equallequalled ArsenArsenal’s recorrecord in a singlsingle seasseason. From OctoOctober throthrough to January, the Blues were untouchable and opened up a six-point leadd at the top of the e table. After victory
No 13 against Stoke City, Spurs purs were fifth andd 13 points back, which ultimatelyately proved too much to make up. Conte outcoached, out-thought and out- performed Guardiola, Mourinho, Wenger and Jürgen Klopp.
8 Dropping Diego Costa
This was the moment it could have all gone wrong. Costa had his head turned by a big January offer from Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian and rowed with Conte at the training ground. The Italian took the gamble of dropping Costa for the trip to Leicester City and the decision worked as Chelsea won 3-0, Conte had reaffirmed his authority and Costa made a goal-scoring return against Hull City the following week. It was a lesson in management and proved Conte would not stand for any nonsense.
9 Getting Hazard to lose weight
Conte knew he had to get the best out of Eden Hazard to succeed and the first job was to reduce the Belgian’s body fat. That was achieved over a gruelling pre-season in which the Italian cut pizza, ketchup and fizzy drinks out of the diets of his players. The result has been that not only has Hazard been better than ever, he has also worked harder than ever. The pick of Hazard’s magic moments came with the superb individual goal against Arsenal in February.
10 Pedro’s Goodison goal
Conte would not say it publicly, but Chelsea felt the trip to Everton was the game in which they could win the title. This was the last big test of Chelsea’s run-in and they passed it in large part thanks to Pedro. The Spaniard, who has been so crucialcr this season,se scored withw a secondhalfh screamer anda from that minute on Chelsea cruised to the win that practically killed offo Tottenham’s hopes. Pedro’s strikest will surely l live long in the memory of the supporterssu who travelledt to Merseyside.M