Many Chelsea supporters have been left concerned by the club’s transfer business so far this summer and feel they might struggle to defend their Premier League title because Chelsea have signed just three definite first-team players for next season; Tiemoue Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger and Alvaro Morata.
However, under the management of Antonio Conte, the Blues should go on to flourish further in both the Premier League and UEFA Champions League next season.
We take a look at how Conte can prevent a second-season decline at Stamford Bridge this season.
Keep hold of Costa and Fàbregas
If Conte wants to replicate what he achieved with Chelsea last season, then he must keep a majority of the players from last season together. This includes both Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas.
At 30-years-old, Fàbregas is a midfielder with vast experience at this level and knows what it takes to be successful both domestically and in Europe.
He would be a huge loss to the dressing room if he was to depart. In comparison, Costa was Chelsea’s main striker last season and got the goals required to fire them to the Premier League title. To lose a striker of his calibre would be a huge blow to any side.
Utilise Alvaro Morata
It came as no surprise that Chelsea landed a striker of Morata’s quality on a five-year deal as they have been looking for a new striker all summer.
They missed out on Romelu Lukaku to rivals Manchester United which sparked rumours that Conte may be set to walk away from the club. However, now they have landed Morata, it appears that Conte is more satisfied with the club’s transfer business.
Despite finding himself largely second-best to Karim Benzema at Madrid, Morata still had an impressive goal scoring record at Madrid. He found the back of the net 20 times in the 39 appearances he made at the Bernabéu. At just 24-years-old, Morata certainly has the potential to improve further and take the Premier League by storm if used effectively.
Continue what worked well last season
There have been numerous cases in the past where managers have tried to tweak too much during the summer following a successful campaign to seek to improve further.
A lot of the time this is not necessary. Conte just needs to tweak minor things and try and continue what worked well for the Blues last season as they stormed to the league title.
Conte needs to continue with the high pressing style he implemented at Stamford Bridge last season with the ability to counter attack at pace. He still has the players to play this way and the likes Rudiger, Bakayoko and Morata should soon be able to adapt to this style.
Utilise squad to cope in the Champions League
It will be interesting to see how Chelsea fare this season as they were arguably given a huge advantage over their Premier League rivals last time out by not having to compete in any European competition.
This time around, they will be back in the UEFA Champions League, and this is something that can often have an impact on a team’s league results.
By competing in both of these major competitions, Conte must utilise his Chelsea squad to prevent tiredness. This could give the likes of Michy Batshuayi among others a chance to finally shine after limited opportunities last season.
