What difference a year makes.
After 16 rounds of last season’s Premier League, things were looking pretty grim for defending champions Chelsea, who had just given manager Jose Mourinho the heave-ho for the second time.
Just a single point above the relegation zone, their title defence was over and Guus Hiddink was drafted in to stave off any fears of relegation.
Having fought his fire, Hiddink rode into the sunset last summer as Italian Antonio Conte took over at Stamford Bridge. Ten league wins on the spin and things are looking a lot rosier now.
This turnaround left many wondering how badly wrong it went in Mourinho’s final months, as he accused “rats” of destabilising the club and fans turned on the likes of Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois for not playing for the manager.
Mourinho suggested he had made these players excel in their title winning campaign of 2014-15, but their performances this season suggest they are pretty good, with or without the Manchester United manager.
One year ago Jose said he "brought the players to a level that is not their level". Turns out Courtois, Hazard and Costa are good anyway.
— Jack Pitt-Brooke (@JackPittBrooke) December 14, 2016
There is another explanation, of course, in the tiny, pocket-sized shape of Chelsea’s pivotal summer signing, N’Golo Kanté. The £30million fee to prise him away from champions Leicester already seems like a bargain as the hard-working France international comfortably tops the win rates for current Premier League players.
Current Premier League players by win percentage. No surprise to learn that N'Golo Kanté is top by some distance. Played 53, won 36 pic.twitter.com/tYyCtZ66eR
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKay) December 16, 2016
No real surprise when you consider in his first season in English football Leicester lost just three games in 38 as the Foxes shocked the world by winning the Premier League. This year Chelsea have been beaten just twice in the league.
Throw in the fact David Luiz, who returned to the Bridge from Paris, also features in the top 10 and you can see how Conte has assembled a team with the know-how to win the title. John Terry brings to three the number of Chelsea players in top 10.
Manchester City have Yaya Touré, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Alexander Kolarov.
The final two are Arsenal men: former Chelsea keeper Petr Cech and Nacho Monr….
Yep,
It’s Nacho Monreal. #winner
