Chelsea's silverware machine is back: Antonio Conte's men are genuine contenders
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Updated 05/12/2016 at 10:29 GMT
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.
Eden Hazard celebrates
Image credit: Eurosport
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.
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.
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Antonio Conte and Chelsea applaud their fans
Image credit: 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.
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Antonio Conte mit Pep Guardiola
Image credit: 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.
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Chelsea's Eden Hazard goes off injured as manager Jose Mourinho talks to him
Image credit: 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.
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Chelsea's John Terry and Didier Drogba celebrate with the trophy after winning the Premier League in 2015
Image credit: 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.
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