Premier League | Antonio Conte's Chelsea turn around fortunes in just eight months

When Antonio Conte arrived at Cobham, one week earlier than scheduled, he inherited a messy 10th place side, with senior players like Eden Hazard, Pedro and Diego Costa out of form.  

The first two months were dismal. Conte had brought in a defensive midfielder from Leicester City, someone called N'Golo Kante for a whopping £30m, Victor Moses had been recalled after three mediocre loan terms with three different outfits and another left-wing back Marcus Alonso from Fiorentina for another £23m including variables.

At the end of September, Chelsea were just two better from their final position last season, at eighth place. More misery was heaped on by Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool who managed to detonate the Bridge winning 1-2.

Their next match was against Arsene Wenger's Arsenal at the Emirates. 

Once again, they were hammered 3-0 and London was painted red. Bookies and betting websites had started to foresee another change at the helm of affairs and were welcoming bids in favour of Conte's head. 

A manager, known for his indomitable work ethic, a versatile tactical organisation who takes into account every morsel of detail in the training ground, will not give up without a final throw of the dice. The Conte revolution began in the Emirates dressing room with his side 3-0 down.

Sanchez, Walcott, and Ozil were making the Blues ordinary when Conte decided to switch it up with a back three and two wide wing backs.

Chelsea's tactical coup was first successfully implemented at the KCOM stadium which was too hot for Hull to handle and Chelsea won 2-0.

On October 24, when Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge with Manchester United, Chelsea was fighting a double battle on that fated Sunday. They not only took on United but psychologically they were up against the memories of a disastrous season under the charges of a man marshalling the opposition dugout. If the 3-0 thumping at the hands of Arsenal set the clarion call for change, this 4-0 drubbing of Manchester not only exiled the horrific echoes of last season but also instilled a new-found confidence.

They started their winning streak against Hull and went on to win the next 13 fixtures until Chelsea's juggernaut was stopped by Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

With this winning streak, Conte became the first manager to win 13 of his opening 16 games in the Premier League after John Gregory of Aston Villa of 1998/99 season. Upon close inspection of his 3-4-3 system, we find that it resembles a 3-4-2-1 formation. His back three was formed keeping Luiz at the centre flanked by Gary Cahill on the left and Azplilicueta on the right. The workhorse Kante along with Nemanja Matic formed a defensive screen in front of them, but with the license to move vertically up to the attacking third to provide attacking impulse as well as to press high, absorbing much pressure in the midfield itself.

The re-invented Victor Moses operated from the right with Alonso on the left providing the width as well as stretching the opposition defence as wide as they can, with the option to switch channels as and when they liked. 

Up front, was the mobile attacking triumvirate of Pedro on the right and magical Eden Hazard on the left with Costa dangling on the top more like a typical free agent number 9 acting as a focal point for the wingers. 

This created multifarious attacking channels often mimicking the 2-3-5 which he regularly used at Juventus as a tactical shift while advancing. Therefore Chelsea always managed to have four to five blue shirts in the attacking third, giving them a numerical superiority which becomes an absolute necessary to break down rugged defences of a team like Stoke who prefer to sit back deep and hit on the counter. 

It does not come as a surprise when you find Chelsea at the top of the scoring charts with 76 goals with 64 of them coming from inside the 18-yard box and with only eight headers indicative of their passing style. They have completed 15,401 passes till date, with an accuracy of 84% only bettered by Man City in terms of accuracy with 85%. 

Hazard has returned to his brilliant best with 79 chances created and with a pass accuracy of 84%  he has proved that his dip in form last season is history. The stunning counter-attack goal against West Ham in Chelsea's 2-1 win in March consolidated his position as the second best player in a Chelsea shirt behind Kante. 

Kante has been omnipresent on the pitch in all of Chelsea's matches with an overall 122 defensive actions, 20 chances created and with a pass accuracy of 89% throughout the season he has been in his diligent destructive best in midfield. The numbers are mind boggling and one can only reason out why Chelsea have managed to carry out 512 interceptions in 35 premier league games. 

At the back, they have been solid as well conceding just 29 and only four from outside the box. This speaks volumes about Kante's involvement in the defensive midfield with Matic who has not allowed much space to shoot from long range. They have made only 10 defensive errors throughout the season and only two of them have been scored against them. 

Their immediate focus is on the FA Cup final against Arsenal, but Conte is far from being myopic to not start thinking about next season. Chelsea without European football has had a cake walk in terms of fixture list and with some senior players like Costa and even Fabregas having put one foot out of the Bridge, the apprehensions of next season are already looming large near the corner casting a demonic shadow.

Already Everton's Romelu Lukaku, Madrid's out of favour Alvaro Morata are being linked to the club but European success will depend on how fittingly they are able to replace the current big names.

But with Conte at the helm, with his ever-increasing hunger for glory, his knack to weave out of apocalyptic situations coupled with his aggressive Puritan training methods only a person losing his intellectual sanity will rule Chelsea out of contention both in England and in Europe.