Premier League 2016-17 preview, predictions: No. 3, Chelsea
With the 2016-17 Premier League season kicking off this weekend, FC Yahoo is rolling out previews for all 20 teams. We’ll be working our way up from the bottom of our predicted table, all the way to the champions.
Last season: What a disaster. Chelsea’s 10th-place finish, one year after winning the Premier League title, doesn’t even tell the full story. There was blatant discord between players and manager Jose Mourinho. With the club floundering just outside the relegation zone in December, Mourinho was sacked. Once a few wins created separation from the bottom three, the rest of the campaign under interim boss Guus Hiddink was a waste.
What’s changed: First and foremost, Chelsea needed a manager, and it got one of the best in the world in former Juventus and Italy coach Antonio Conte. Conte promptly activated N’Golo Kante’s £32 million release clause to pry the indefatigable midfielder away from Leicester, and paid a similar fee for young Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi. More additions should come shortly as well, with a center back and another striker reportedly at the top of Conte’s wish list.
FC YAHOO TAKE
Henry Bushnell: Conte is so, so intelligent. He has a group of players that, 15 months ago, won the Premier League going away. And he bought the EPL’s most influential player this offseason. So what’s not to like? Regardless of what formation(s) the Italian settles on — 4-3-3, 4-2-4, 3-5-2, something else — he’s going to mold it to suit the players at his disposal. That’s what he’s done everywhere he’s gone, from Bari to Juventus to the Italian national team. And these players might be his best bunch yet. Kante fits his style perfectly. Last year was an anomaly for Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic and others. There are certainly questions about age and depth, but this Chelsea team is a lot closer to 2014-15’s title-winning squad than last year’s 10th-place one, and more players should be arriving to strengthen it between now and Sept. 1.
Alex Baker: In Conte, Chelsea has appointed one of the most exciting managers in the game. But the Blues have problems the Italian doesn’t seem to have addressed. They’ve yet to sort their striker situation out — will Diego Costa stay or go? Their center backs, John Terry and Gary Cahill, aren’t getting any younger, and there remain serious questions about the team’s best player, Hazard. While Conte indeed looks like the man to guide Chelsea back to the summit of English soccer, his team currently looks more like it’s going through a transitional period than readying a serious tilt for the title.
Bookmakers say: Point total over/under: 71.5 | Title odds: 11/2 | Relegation odds: 500/1
FC YAHOO PREDICTIONS
Shahan Ahmed: 4 | Ryan Bailey: 4 | Alex Baker: 5 | Henry Bushnell: 2 | Joey Gulino: 3 | Joe Lago: 2 | Leander Schaerlaeckens: 2 | Average: 3.2 (3rd)
More Previews
Arsenal | Bournemouth | Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Hull City | Leicester City | Liverpool | Manchester City | Manchester United | Middlesbrough | Southampton | Stoke City | Sunderland | Swansea City | Tottenham | Watford | West Brom | West Ham
