Petr Cech believes winning the Premier League title will galvanise Chelsea’s next generation and make José Mourinho’s side an even stronger proposition next season.
Cech, speaking after Chelsea’s 3-1 win at Leicester City gave them the opportunity to secure the trophy against Crystal Palace on Sunday, said he hoped the victory would be the start of a new spell of dominance for the club.
“The last title we won was in 2010, so it has been a long time,” he said. “This title is hopefully the start of a new era, another generation of players. Only me, Didier [Drogba] and JT [John Terry] have been here for the last decade, so you can say this is a new generation of Chelsea. Hopefully we will confirm the title on Sunday and this team will continue on.
“You can be a great player but the experience of playing difficult games under pressure, and becoming champions gives you another step, another dimension.”
Cech, who played against Leicester in place of the injured Thibaut Courtois, said Mourinho had been unhappy when the sides went in level at half-time.
“I can summarise what he said as: ‘It was not good enough.’ We knew it was not good enough. It was not the way to win the game. The way we played first half we didn’t have enough ball to create problems for them. They were not under pressure. We had to get control of the game.
“We knew we had 45 minutes to turn things around. We found a way, and that is different to last season. We have to give credit to Leicester, though. They started fast from the block, played simple but very effective. We lacked the rhythm a little bit and couldn’t find our way to play the game. But in the second half we found our way, got control and the goals changed the game.”
Cech said the squad were now determined to avoid any slip-ups against Palace and seal the title in front of their own fans at Stamford Bridge.
“It is definitely better to win it at home, it is the icing on the cake,” he said. “If we win the title on Sunday it will be the perfect way. It is a great feeling to have another chance to win another title.”
