Chelsea have not recovered from loss of Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic | Jonathan Wilson


Antonio Conte’s 3-5-1-1 formation, partly a result of dissatisfaction with the replacements for Matic, has played a big part in the club’s decline

If there was a moment when, symbolically at least, last season’s title race tipped decisively the way of Chelsea, it came 12 minutes after half-time of their game at Manchester City in December. City were leading 1-0 when Kevin De Bruyne, four yards out and with the goal gaping, slammed a Jesús Navas cross against the bar. Within three minutes Chelsea were level through Diego Costa and, as City lost their heads, Antonio Conte’s side went on to win 3-1.

That game was 15 months ago, yet it may as well have been a lifetime. It is not so much that City have improved, although they clearly have, as that such a performance from Chelsea seems implausible now. That fight, that aggression, that ruthlessness is gone and, not coincidentally, so too is Costa, the embodiment of those qualities.

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