Why Chelsea won the Premier League

Chelsea took on Crystal Palace at the weekend, needing all three points from the game to secure their first Premier League title since 2010.

They pulled off a classic Chelsea performance: efficient, structured and passionate. Eden Hazard found the back of the net to settle the seasons title race after missing his penalty first time round but he headed home the rebound that came back off Crystal Palace’s goalkeeper Julian Speroni.

Although every player does their bit week in and week out Jose Mourinho is the main reason for the teams success. At the end of last season he realised and identified the changes that had to be made on the pitch after he came close to winning the title.

One thing that was obvious last season that Chelsea were missing  was a goal scorer, someone who was going to perform and do their job each week. Mourinho addressed the matter by singing the Brazilian Diego Costa who scored the goals that were missing.

Chelsea’s Strikers 2013-14
Fernando Torres
Game Starts: 28
Shots: 37
Goals: 5

Samuel Eto’o
Game Starts: 21
Shots: 44
Goals: 9

Demba Ba
Game Starts: 19
Shots: 27
Goals: 5

Chelsea Strikers 2014-15
Diego Costa
Game Starts: 24
Shots: 57
Goals: 19

Didier Drogba
Game Starts: 26
Shots: 18
Goals: 3

Loic Remy
Game Starts: 21
Shots: 18
Goals: 9

Costa has scored the same amount of goals this season than all three of Chelsea’s strikers last season.
Consistent Team Selection:

Another reason why Chelsea have been successful this season is consistent team selection.

Jose tries to keep the same key players on the pitch or in the starting eleven unless they are injured or unfit. This creates a stronger unit on the pitch giving the players stability rather than changing the team around every week which rivals City are guilty of.

John Terry has played every single minute of every league game which is no surprise with the form he has been in. Eden Hazard is also another player who rarely ever gets took off the pitch but with that extreme talent in your team you would be stupid not to play him for as much time as you could.

Chelsea have had 17 clean sheets out of 35 league games and have only conceded more than two goals twice. Up to January Chelsea conceded 19 goals in 22 games but from January 18 on wards they have only conceded 8 goals in 13 games.

By the time the end of the season comes to a close Chelsea would have broken the record for the most days spent on the top of the table and also the most consecutive days at number one. They have spent 254 days at the top of the Premier League table and would of spent 274 days there by the end of the season on 24 May, meaning they’ve broke Manchester United’s record of 262 days from 1993/4.