Premier League Fantasy Preview: Chelsea

Antonio Conte’s debut season in the Chelsea hotseat could not have gone any better. A lack of European football allowed the former Azzurri coach to field his best XI in the majority of fixtures but it was a tactical switch that proved decisive, enabling the Blues to build up an unassailable lead.

Set pieces were an integral part of their success and no other Premier League side scored as many goals on the counter-attack.

However, there is constant speculation suggesting that Conte’s second season will be his last at Stamford Bridge and Roman Abramovich’s reputation for changing managers on a regular basis certainly supports that theory.

Juggling Champions League football with domestic affairs has proven to be a tough challenge and Conte already knows thatt his side will be relinquishing the Premier League trophy that they won in such emphatic style in 2016/17.

Transfers

Álvaro Morata was their top target before the start of the campaign and the Spanish international has enjoyed a mixed start since his arrival.

Reinforcements were cleary needed so Olivier Giroud, Ross Barkley and Emerson Palmieri all made the switch to Stamford Bridge during the january transfer window joining the likes of Danny Drinkwater, Antonio Rüdiger and Tiémoué Bakayoko, who all arrived earlier in the season.

Chelsea tactics and formation

Conte is regarded as one of the best tacticians in world football and it was his switch to a 3-man defence that proved to be the catalyst as they regained the Premier League crown.

Conte has been tailoing his tactics and formation a little more this time around though, sometimes going with a 3-5-1-1 in preference to the 3-4-3 he stuck so religiously to in the later part of last season…..

---

---

Chelsea Penalty & Set Piece Takers…read more

---

---

Chelsea Tactics & Playing Formation…read more