Will Chelsea falter as the Premier League season nears the end?

Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford has cut the gap between the Premier League leaders and second ranked Tottenham. The loss in itself should not come as a shock considering Chelsea were missing two of their influential players on the defensive end, namely goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and defender Marcos Alonso.

To Manchester United’s credit, the players followed the plan drawn up by former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and prevented the likes of Eden Hazard from firing a single shot on target during the match. It is true that Courtois and Alonso are very important to Chelsea’s defensive prowess, but United’s players were the better ones on the day.

The bigger question remains whether this loss is just a mere blot in what has been an otherwise exemplary 2017 for Chelsea. The London side’s manager Antonio Conte has been on the receiving end of praise due to his fiery passion and relentless approach to preparing for games.

Conte will likely spend sleepless nights trying to figure out what and where things went wrong against United. However, Conte is not the one taking to the field but rather the starting XI he selects, spearheaded by the likes of Hazard and Diego Costa. The latter, in particular, has been going through a slump at the inopportune time for Conte. Diego Costa has failed to register a single goal in his last 5 Premier League games while being on the receiving end of 3 yellow cards.

Of the competitors to the EPL crown, Tottenham stand the biggest chance of wrestling the first spot from Chelsea. Liverpool and Manchester City are 9 and 11 points behind respectively, rendering their challenge to the title rather difficult if not impossible. Of the remaining 6 games, four will be at home against Southampton, Middlesbrough, Watford and Sunderland. If Chelsea’s 2017 form holds true, then the London side should be able to win all 4 games. However, Chelsea must travel to take on Everton in a difficult game and also face West Bromwich away in a rather tricky game.

On the other hand, Tottenham’s schedule is trickier with 4 games to play away from home and the two remaining home fixtures coming against London rivals Arsenal and Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.

The four point gap might still be enough to push Chelsea towards winning the EPL title based on the remaining fixtures for the top two teams as well as the fine form of key players such as Hazard and Alonso not to mention the presence of a meticulous manager as Conte who obsesses over details and demands 100% effort from his players.

Starting with the next Premier League game against Southampton, Conte will look for his men to respond to this defeat at Old Trafford, but before he can switch his attention to the Saints he must address the small matter of facing none other than Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final.

From now till the end of the season, Conte will be concerned with whether his squad has enough in the tank factoring in his demanding training sessions and his repetitive nature in his quest to perfect even the tiniest of details. During his spell as Juventus coach, one of the few things held against him by critics was his unwillingness to rotate and rest players which some claim was one of the reasons behind Juve’s poor form in Europe.

Conte will be hoping the FA Cup will not drain his players ahead of the game against the Saints and will look to keep his players disciplined to avoid any unnecessary suspensions. The Italian manager will also hope to have both Courtois and Alonso back for the final stretch, with their importance to the team becoming even more evident during the 2-0 defeat against Manchester.