The Top Flight
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Chelsea could be Premier League’s Leicester City this season

By Craig Pearson

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 05: Pedro of Chelsea celebrates scoring his sides fifth goal with his Chelsea team mates during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge on November 5, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 05: Pedro of Chelsea celebrates scoring his sides fifth goal with his Chelsea team mates during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge on November 5, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images) /
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Chelsea are in perfect form thanks to recent tactical changes by manager Antonio Conte. The Blues are a riddle that rivals need to solve sooner rather than later.

Chelsea looked like a team set to fight for a top four place at best after six games of the new Premier League season. But the five games that followed have seen Antonio Conte’s side jump towards the front of the pack of title challengers.

So how did the situation change so quickly? Chelsea have a world class manager who made the necessary changes. A world class manager who found a solution to the obvious problems that the team had at the time.

Conte didn’t wait until Christmas to see how things would play out. He didn’t sit back and just change one player here and there. The Italian went on the offensive. Took charge of the situation and made drastic changes.

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The formation was switched to a 3-4-3 system. Cesar Azpilicueta switched to being a center-back from a right back. Winger Victor Moses came into the team and was deployed as a wing back. Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante continued in central midfield despite the issues early on. Pedro also came into the team and has been exceptional.

Conte deserves more credit than he’s currently getting, but either way, Chelsea are reaping the rewards right now. Five Premier League wins in succession, 16 goals scored and none conceded. Does it get any better than that?

The tactics are clearly working for Chelsea and they’re also clearly setting a real problem for opposition teams. On Saturday, Ronald Koeman decided to match his Everton team up in the same formation and see if that would bring any joy. It didn’t.

Chelsea ran riot with a 5-1 win that could have been even more. Chelsea showed that not only can they win by counter attacking with less possession, as they have done in some recent games. But that they can also slice you up if they have 60 percent possession.

So what is the answer?

It’s a challenge for rival Premier League teams to now solve and come up with the solution for. A similar situation happened last season with Leicester City. The Foxes had their own way of playing under Claudio Ranieri, and in the end, nobody quite figured it out.

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Before you know it, early-season form turns into Christmas form, then Christmas passes and it’s February time, and then not long after you’re suddenly in the home straight. How did we get here?The season soon passes by and every game, every point counts.

Last season, everybody said Leicester will get figured out next week, and then it was to be the next week, and then the week after and…. it never happened. Ultimately, Leicester became champions.

This season, Ranieri’s team seemed to have finally been figured out somewhat, but it’s too late now. It only takes one team to set a blueprint and the rest will then follow it, to varying degrees of success.

That’s how Leicester’s season is currently continuing. People understand how to play against them now, but just not everybody can carry out the game plan. For Chelsea, there is no blueprint as yet.

However, it is still early in the season and the Premier League leaders are yet to test their new system against an in-form title rival. That will be the next examination to pass. Games against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City are fast approaching in the next three matches.

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But if Chelsea do come through those games unscathed, then the rest of the challenging pack will be extremely worried. Somebody has to figure out how to stop Conte’s Chelsea sooner rather than later.

If they don’t, Chelsea could well end up being this season’s Leicester.

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