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The big question on Antonio Conte’s lips this week will be whether the ‘rats’ have the minerals for the run-in.
Eden Hazard was man-marked out of the Manchester United game by Ander Herrera on Sunday.
Diego Costa played like a man who was aching to be sent off.
And when Cesc Fabregas came on as Chelsea’s Plan B he didn’t have anything like the impact his manager will have wanted with so much on the line.
We all know how those three threw it in under Jose Mourinho last season.
So if I was Conte I’d be wondering if I needed to be concerned that something similar was happening or if they are going to rediscover the spirit of champions again.
(Photo: Michael Regan)
(Photo: Action Images via Reuters)
If they do, then Chelsea will win the Premier League title at a canter.
But if even one of them chokes again then the Blues could be in serious trouble with Tottenham eyes on the prize.
Conte, and the rest of us for that matter, will get a major indicator on Saturday when Chelsea and Spurs meet at Wembley in the first of the weekend’s FA Cup semi-finals.
Should Chelsea win that game, then psychologically it will send a message to Spurs that they are still the better team and have the cojones for the battle.
But if Spurs come out on top then their momentum continues and Chelsea will seriously be beginning to wobble.
(Photo: 2017 Getty Images)
Hazard and Costa, in particular, have been superb for most of the season, both scoring goals and, in the Belgian’s case, creating them too.
But Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino will have seen the job Ander Herrera did on Hazard and that might just change the way Eric Dier is deployed and, for that matter, other opponents when they return to the Premier League are too.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like Herrera as a player.
But he has been made to sound like N’Golo Kante, Sergio Busquets and Claude Makelele rolled into one in the past couple of days and that just isn’t the case.
I’ve been scratching my head as to why the league leaders would go to somewhere like Old Trafford at this stage of the season and be so inept.
(Photo: PA)
And I keep coming back to the fact that, when they went on that run of 13 successive league victories they kept 10 clean sheets and only conceded four goals.
But in the last 10 Premier League games they haven’t kept one clean sheet and there is obviously a reason for that.
Defensively, the work ethic has clearly gone down a little bit, from Costa as the man leading the press up the pitch, right through the team.
The way Chelsea set up, Marcus Rashford should never have been allowed to score his goal on Sunday, yet it showed Mourinho’s men had his old side’s number from the first minute of the game.
After watching that, Spurs too will think they are there for the taking.
And if they inflict another defeat then Conte and his men are in for a very tricky final few weeks of the season.