It has been a start-stop second season for Antonio Conte at Chelsea, after a brilliant 2016-17 campaign that saw us get crowned as Premier League champions.
The Italian has been vocal in asserting his belief that 2017/18 will be very difficult, and indeed it has been one. Conte needed fresh players in the summer to boost his squad and although he got a few, they have struggled, barring the brilliant Alvaro Morata.
Summer acquisition from Monaco, Tiemoue Bakayoko has looked like a shadow of himself, while Danny Drinkwater has endured his own injury problems. Morata, who has 10 goals to his name, is currently nursing a back problem, which kept him out of the 3-1 win over Huddersfield.
The squad is weaker than last season and many would point out the sale of Nemanja Matic to Manchester United in the summer. Of course, the Serb was a vital cog in Conte’s team that won the Premier League last season and so it still baffles me to even think why we sold him to direct rivals United.
Also, some players have suffered a dip in form and quite a few of Chelsea’s title rivals have either copied our 3-4-3 formation or figured out a way to play against it. Though Conte has tweaked the 3-4-3 formation to 3-4-1-2, our defence has proved to be sloppy.
While Manchester City are in an unstoppable mode, it’s ridiculous to even think of overhauling them. We are 14 points shy of City, and three points short of their neighbours Manchester United.
So realistically, Conte should first catch his nemesis, Jose Mourinho, before even thinking about Pep Guardiola. To be honest, although we are 15 days away from New Year, it’s City’s title to lose. Until and unless there’s a miraculous breakdown in the team or any injury to an important player, I don’t think City would drop points. For now, let’s hope Spurs pull out a rabbit from the hat against the league-leaders on Saturday.
Back to us, we need to keep winning every game from here on. Following a superb win over Huddersfield, our next assignment is a home game against Southampton.
Football expert and columnist Paul Merson has made a prediction of the game.
The ‘Magic Man’ told Sky Sports:
“I thought Chelsea were brilliant at Huddersfield. I know Tottenham won easily there but Manchester United got beaten there and Manchester City didn’t win until late on. Chelsea embarrassed Huddersfield and I can’t see anything but another win here.”
“Chelsea have been inconsistent at times this season but if they show the form they have in certain games they can beat Barcelona in the Champions League. If they play like they did against Roma they will be out of the tie before you know it. Chelsea just need consistency and they will be a threat to anybody,” Merson added.
Merson predicts a 3-0 win and I am going with the same prediction. #KTBFF