Chelsea: The most complete team in the Premier League will win the title

Chelsea are running away with things at the top of the Premier League. Whilst others continue to struggle with problems of their own, the Blues are showing they are the most complete outfit this year.

Chelsea may not have been favorites for the Premier League title at the start of this season, but the Blues are red-hot favorites now. Antonio Conte’s men sit nine points clear of the chasing pack and have 14 games remaining.

It didn’t start all that well for Conte and Chelsea, though. After six games, the club were in 8th position. Their latest result was a 3-0 humiliation at the hands of Arsenal. It looked like another season of struggle after last year under Jose Mourinho.

But the next game against Hull City, Conte switched the team’s formation to a 3-4-3, and the rest is history. Chelsea have never looked back since. Well, only to see how far the rest are falling behind.

Conte has proved himself one of the most tactically astute and versatile managers in the league. All the talk ahead of this season was about Pep Guardiola – and the Spaniard likely will have his own success in England. But this year it has been all about Antonio Conte.

Whilst Conte and Chelsea have soared away at the top of the league, Manchester City and Guardiola have toiled. City find themselves in a scrap for a top four spot rather than a fight for the title.

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Guardiola’s men usually dominate games but have a tendency to miss chances and a defense that is practically non-existent much of the time. City do have a lot of good points about them, but a lot of drawbacks too. And that, really, is the story if this year’s ‘title race’ to date.

Liverpool have a lot of good things about them. Their energy is mind-blowing at times and they score a ton of goals. But they can’t defend and they don’t have a goalkeeper they can truly rely on. Glaring weaknesses. Meanwhile, Arsenal have been Arsenal again.

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The Gunners play great when you allow them to, but are easily bullied. Another flawed team. Then there’s Manchester United. The defense is very solid and Zlatan Ibrahimovich has been fantastic for his new club. But nobody else scores a goal. The rely on the Swede far, far too much.

These are not small flaws for the chasing pack, they’re all very big, blindingly obvious flaws. Chelsea are by far the most rounded team in the division. However, Conte doesn’t necessarily have a outfit that looks set to dominate for years to come. They’re just very good at everything. No outstanding weaknesses.

The closest comparison to Chelsea is Tottenham. And, not by coincidence, the closest team to Chelsea numerically in the Premier League standings is Tottenham. Spurs are incredible defensively, and do score their share of goals. They just lack a few winners who have been there and done it before, and some additional depth off the bench.

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Every team that was supposed to be in the Premier League title race is currently looking at their flaws and wondering what might have been. Chelsea are not doing that. They’re looking ahead to what’s going to be.

Which looks like the title heading back to Stamford Bridge. The Blues are setting an extremely high bar as the most complete team in the Premier League.

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