Antonio Conte suggested that his Chelsea side are in perfect shape for a busy mid‑winter after Diego Costa’s goal lifted them to the top of the Premier League on Sunday.
The 1-0 win at Middlesbrough was their sixth in succession and, even more impressively, that sequence has been achieved without the concession of a single goal. When they surrendered 3-0 against Arsenal in late September it seemed hard to credit that Mesut Özil’s goal for Arsène Wenger’s side would be the last Conte’s defence would leak for such a long time and the Italian was suitably delighted.
“After we had two defeats against Liverpool and then Arsenal, it wasn’t simple to believe we’d have six wins a row without conceding any goals,” he said. “It’s fantastic because this league is so difficult.”
Not that Conte, whose switch to an opponent-bewildering 3-4-3 formation has proved pivotal, is surprised by this revival. Instead he feels the physical conditioning work he employed during the summer and continues to regularly top up is not only paying dividends now but can help see Chelsea through the crushing grind of the Christmas and New Year fixtures ahead.
“I know we will need to play many games in a few days so from the start of the season we’ve worked a lot on physical aspects and we continue to work on them,” he said. “In this league it’s important to have intensity and strength as well as good technique.
“This league is very tough so if you’re not strong it’s difficult to wins games – and particularly this game today. I trust in my work but now I’m seeing what I wanted to see at the start of the season.”
Indeed it was the sort of contest Chelsea would probably have lost – or at least drawn – last season. “At some moments we suffered against a strong team with a good organisation,” Conte said. “There was a fantastic atmosphere and Middlesbrough’s fans were pushing them but we never lost our compactness. Now we have to continue like this – but Chelsea always fight to the end.”
Asked if his team are title favourites, their manager did not disagree: “It’s difficult to say. This win increases our trust in what we’re doing. But our next game against Tottenham will be very tough.”
With the fixture after that pitting Conte’s players against Manchester City a litmus test of their title potential is approaching but Aitor Karanka would not be drawn as to who he thought might actually finish top in May.
Having recently drawn with Arsenal and City, Middlesbrough’s manager was asked which of that pair and Chelsea were best. “All of them, they all have really good coaches,” he said. “But Chelsea are experienced, they defend together, they have quality to play in different ways and Diego Costa is a top striker.”
Although Boro are improving they have won only twice all season and Karanka was left frustrated by the slapdash reaction to a corner which consigned them to defeat on a day when Chelsea were troubled by Adam Traoré’s pace. “It was a tough game but we showed we could compete against one of the top teams only for one mistake to cost us.”
Gary Cahill had no compassion for him or Boro after proving a key element in Conte’s back three: “Confidence is up in the side and we’re playing well. We’re getting the results too which is the most important thing. We’ve carried on from where we left off at the international break. We’re in a good moment on the training ground and working hard.
“When you are winning games, it’s easy to play. We’re happy with today’s work but the league is not won today, it’s not even Christmas yet.”
