There were insinuations that Chelsea lack of Champions League football aided their Premier League glory last season, though it may be difficult, Conte has not relented in creating an enabling environment that will make them defend their title brilliantly, as they will now compete in the European competition this season.
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And let’s not forget, Chelsea still have a squad packed full of talent. They may be low on quantity, but they aren’t short on quality. That in itself should breed confidence for fans’ hopes of a repeat title success.
With all this mind, we look at five areas that tell us why Chelsea will successfully defend their league crown this term.
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For all the talk of squad depth and mega-money deals, we shouldn’t allow it to detract from the reality that Conte is Chelsea’s biggest asset. Yes, more so than Eden Hazard and £58 million signing Alvaro Morata, the manager is the jewel in the crown for the Blues.
When he arrived last summer, he inherited a squad that was on its knees. The players’ pride had been smashed by their failures of 2015/16, and confidence was low.
In just a few months, Conte rebuilt it and restored pride in the squad and the club. That he engineered a title success that broke all sorts of records along the way was a minor miracle in itself. If we doubted the value of managers in the modern game, the Italian proved us all wrong with that achievement.
with the former Juventus boss in the dugout this season, the team are going to be a strong proposition to win the league.
Formidable midfield partnership
Chelsea completed the signing of Danny Drinkwater on deadline day to reunite the England midfield with Kante.
The 27 year old formed a formidable partnership with the french man in their time at Leicester city to win the 2015/2016 premier league.
Haven dominated the league today before, the pair could kick of from where they stopped. while Bakayoko was instrumental to Monaco winning the French Ligue 1 for the first time since 2000.
The case for the defence
This has been an area of contention for Chelsea this summer.
John Terry left the club after his contract expired last season, while Nathan Ake was sold for £20 million to Bournemouth and Kurt Zouma is also on a season-long loan at Stoke City.
But the blues brought in Antonio Rudiger from As Roma, Andreas Christensen returned from a two-year loan at Borussia Monchengladbach and Davide Zappacosta in their place.
Ignoring names for a moment, losing Zouma, Terry and Ake isn’t as dramatic as it seems. Between all three, they started just 10 Premier League matches last season. They were squad players, and Conte now has two players who should feature more.
That’s not because they’re any more talented, but rather they fit into the system more effectively.
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For Christensen especially, this season should be exciting. He’s an ideal replacement for David Luiz at the heart of defence, playing the libero role in the back three. That’s an option Chelsea didn’t have last season; it was the Brazil international or bust, which is why he was hobbling on one leg come April and struggled to finish the campaign.
And Rudiger is more of a known quantity than Zouma, whose knee injury continues to raise question marks.
Chelsea have five strong defenders for three positions, which is a better prospect than the six they boasted in 2015/16
The system
After back to back defeats in the hands of Liverpool and Arsenal, Antonio was forced to switched to 3-4-3 which saw the blues go 13 games unbeaten.
Conte’s 3-4-3 changed English football last season, bringing in a new dawn for the system that has been adopted by so many other teams. Manchester United and Arsenal are trying it out for size, while others such as Everton and Tottenham Hotspur have also dabbled.
No other team has been as effective as Chelsea at applying it
While Conte doesn’t have the squad depth he wants, he does have the players he needs. He has talented and capable wing-backs, with a strong three-man defence that is essential for the formation to work. Not only that, it suits the likes of Luiz.
Chelsea have a flexibility few clubs can boast, other than Manchester City.
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