Antonio Conte's 'monumental' Chelsea defence is a chilling sight for forwards of title rivals like Tottenham

Pat Nevin has praised Antonio Conte for the way
the Chelsea coach has set up his team to see
out games in recent weeks.
Conte had his Chelsea team start in the same
3-4-3 formation and, indeed, with the same
players for the visit of Tottenham at Stamford
Bridge on Saturday following six straight wins in
the league for the Blues.
And Conte's faith in his system and players paid
off, despite Chelsea's slow start to the game,
when Pedro and Victor Moses scored to give the
Blues a 2-1 lead over Spurs after 51 minutes.
Chelsea dominated much of the second half, but
Conte decided to grind out the victory by sending
on Branislav Ivanovic for goalscorer Moses and
dropping Marcos Alonso deeper to effectively
create a five-man defence.
 Chelsea vs Tottenham: In
Pictures
And Nevin believes Conte's tactical intelligence
is a major reason why Chelsea sit top of the
Premier League standings at the moment - with
the club's defence, which has let in just one goal
in seven league games, likely to be a "chilling"
sight for any forward.
"It is always enjoyable beating Spurs obviously,
but there was as much relief as joy for much of
the second half after a strangely subdued first
period," Nevin wrote in his column for Chelsea's
site.
"The first real move of any note and speed
resulted in Pedro’s goal, and it seemed to
galvanise Chelsea to the same degree that it bled
our opponent’s belief dry.
"There are many ideas as to why it all changed
after the break and Antonio was obviously a big
one, but certainly Chelsea are not easy to break
down even if the team isn’t playing its best free-
flowing football.
"What would however have spooked the other
teams watching was not only getting three points
against close rivals when we played below par,
but that our manager has got into a little habit of
closing out games ruthlessly when we are
ahead.
"It was very apparent against Southampton but
more so against Spurs. The introduction of
Branislav Ivanovic near the end while dropping
[Marcos] Alonso deeper to make it a
monumental-looking back five, is a pretty
chilling sight for any forward.
"Not many goals will be scored against those
personnel and that formation, with two sitting
midfielders in front of it and Thibaut Courtois
behind!
"It looked like an almighty door being slammed
shut on Tottenham’s ambitions when the boss
made that move, and very Italian."