When the season begun, pundits everywhere wrote of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea. They had under recruited and were deemed to be the same withering force that saw Jose Mourinho receive the sack in the previous season.
With exception of N’Golo Kante, the preseason signings had fans hoping for a top four finish at best. Although the squad consisted of high-calibre players, the flaws in their technical and mental abilities had been exposed.
The resilient back-line that had gifted Chelsea titles in years gone by through shutting out the opposition had weakened, and there did not seem to be many options to fill the voids.
Three wins on the trot (although over lesser opposition) in the opening weeks of the campaing showed Conte had brough some much-needed fire back into the team. However, the next two games against, title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal, displayed the weaknesses within the line-up and a general lack of substance.
But these defeats seemed to spark something within Conte himself.
The Italian was known for his tactical ability, finding the best in players and having the organisational skills that Chelsea so desperately needed. These losses gave Conte the license to scrap the famous 4-2-3-1 formation that had gifted the team four titles within the last decade, and switch to his favoured 3-4-3 system that served him so well while managing in Italy.
The new system relied on three solid defenders that did not stray from their roles, two fit wing-backs that could sit with the defence while also linking with the attack, two all-round central midfielders capable of a wide array of skills and abilities, which in turn, allows three players to sit higher up the park and attack as a unit.
This system had been used within the Premier League in past years, but overall had been scrapped from the English game due to faults in wing-backs being unable to work at both ends of the pitch, midfielders having to do too much, and defences being broken down with the opposition having three attacking players on three isolated defenders.
Nobody saw this system being effective, especially given the defensive frailties Chelsea had been exhibiting, while also having the need for box-to-box wingers.
But, in hindsight, Conte had a plan well before the two successive defeats.
Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses had been training the whole preseason as wing-backs, increasing their fitness and adapting to new roles. David Luiz had been brought in to allow Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta to focus on defending, while Luiz worked as the distributor from defence. Kante and Nemanja Matic formed a perfect duo, throwing back to the olden days of having two midfielders who cover both defence and attack, mopping up breakaways and starting their own almost instantaneously. This allowed Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Co. to sit high and attack in numbers, ripping opposition defences apart at will.
Conte has proven that money alone will no longer buy a title. Both Manchester United and Manchester City forked out hundreds of millions of pounds on new players, and both now face the possibility of not finishing in the top four. Conte brought back the need for a system, tactics, and players being able to do their jobs for the greater cause of the team.
Although the title race is still raging, it is hard to see Chelsea being caught, with the team to only face two more top-six opponents this season.
The real question will start to become what other teams are going to do next season to stop this juggernaut.
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