Chelsea's silverware machine is back: Antonio Conte's men are genuine contenders

There is a point in every campaign where you have
to start taking a club's title challenge seriously –
for Chelsea, that moment has arrived.
For Leicester last year, the time didn't come until
late: so sure were so many that their lack of top
level pedigree would be telling, almost until the
very end.
In earlier, less outlandish campaigns, those to be
taken seriously have generally been known far
earlier.
[Jolly: Conte's bloody-minded Chelsea
look like champions]
That is not to say we have known the destination
of the Premier League trophy from the outset:
sometimes a team with what looks like an open
goal can be deposed – Liverpool's forever
infamous slip-up of three years ago a case in
point.
It is more the case that a shortlist of runners and
riders is usually clear, at the very latest, from the
halfway mark.
Antonio Conte and Chelsea applaud their fans -
Reuters
That is, perhaps, the point that Antonio Conte is
making when he keeps telling us Chelsea cannot
be in the frame for the key bit of domestic
silverware until the 'mid-point' has passed.
He is trying to persuade us that everything is up in
the air until such a point as 19 of 38 games have
been played; until the crest of the hill is
surmounted, and the club has met-up with every
one of its opponents once.
There's logic in that argument, especially for a
manager new to this league, who is learning about
his surroundings as he goes.
There is only so much that videos, and tactical
dossiers, can tell a coach about a team such as
West Brom or Stoke – so far unseen in the flesh
by Conte – that going toe-to-toe with them on a
December night will truly unveil.
Antonio Conte mit Pep Guardiola - Imago
But, of course, there are some circumstances in
which true contenders are known from day one: as
was with the case with Liverpool in much of the
80s, and Manchester United in the 90s.
Chelsea were clearly in this category when they
set out on the first two seasons of Jose
Mourinho's initial stint with the club – such was
the footwork put in by Claudio Ranieri in the
season before he arrived.
It was also probably the case in the second
season of his follow-up spell in charge: the signs
were there from the previous term.
In all three of those seasons, they went on to win
the title: but this was not the case when, by rights,
Blues should have been near favourites last
season – and 10th place beckoned.
Chelsea's Eden Hazard goes off injured as
manager Jose Mourinho talks to him - Reuters
It is because of that disaster that Chelsea did not
start this season among the truly serious
contenders.
After all, a team coming from nowhere to win the
league is a once in a generation thing, right?
But whereas that Leicester flash in the pan was a
truly miraculous occurrence, Chelsea's present
ascendancy to the top of the table is not entirely
out of the blue.
There are wily campaigners in there, with serious
silverware: David Luiz, Thibaut Courtois, N'Golo
Kante, Cesc Fabregas all know how to win things.
And, disastrous as 2015-16 was for the club, this
was very much the statistical anomaly for a pretty
ruthless silverware machine which has grabbed
pretty much every trophy possible over the last
decade.
Chelsea's John Terry and Didier Drogba celebrate
with the trophy after winning the Premier League in
2015 - Reuters
So, essentially, Chelsea and their players have the
ability to win titles in their DNA – it is just up to the
new regime to prove that they have remembered
how to do it.
And Conte, in this tremendous run of victories
since implementing his new system, has more
than ably proved that to the case.
Chelsea in other recent seasons, by dint of the
name alone, may have been title contenders. This
season they have had to earn that tag.
But, after beating both Tottenham and Manchester
City in their last two outings, earn it they have.
Conte's side are, at present, playing the best
football in England – and other sides are struggling
mightily to understand their weaknesses.
The day may well come when that happens, but
know this: Chelsea have arrived back on the scene
and whatever their manager says, they must now
be seen as serious challengers for the 2016-17
title.