EPL Season Preview and Prediction - Chelsea

CHELSEA FC

Last season - (Champions, 93 points, 30 wins, 3 draws, 5 losses) 
 
Manager - Antonio Conte
 
Notable Gains - Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid), Tiemoue Bakayoko (Monaco), Antonio Rudiger (Roma)
 
Notable Losses - Diego Costa (Unwanted), Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), John Terry (Aston Villa), Kurt Zouma (Stoke City), Branislav Ivanovich (Zenit Saint Petersburg).

Prediction - 4th
 
As a Chelsea fan I'm worried they’re making the same mistakes they did as defending Champions last time around. When they won the Title in 2014/15, they did so with a small squad and relied on little to no injuries throughout a charmed campaign.  Under Antonio Conte last year, they forged a similar path relying on a core group of players with the luxury of no mid-week European Football. Whilst Chelsea retain a fairly formidable starting 11, if you scratch just a little below the surface you see they lack depth in several key areas. They have a paper-thin squad in terms of numbers, and injuries and European Football could really expose the lack of quality and depth in this squad. 
 
This year, with Champions League football to deal with, Chelsea have far too small a squad as things stand, and the messages and body language of Antonio Conte is that of a very concerned Manager. He does not bear the look of a man who won the title three months ago; rather the look of a man that knows Chelsea have failed to bolster their squad from a position of strength. Instead he has seen his rivals grow stronger as Chelsea’s squad gets even thinner. Indeed Conte's simmering mood in pre-season reminds me of Jose Mourinho's mood when Chelsea started their defence of their title two years ago. Of course, history will tell you Mourinho was sacked in December of that season with Chelsea sitting just 1 point above the relegation zone. Whilst you could never predict a similar historical meltdown, there is no guarantee Conte will last the season should the tension at Stamford Bridge remain high and the squad not be reinforced. 
 
I think Antonio Conte is the best Manager in Europe at the moment, however he is very intense, and whether the same Chelsea players can put everything on the line for him this year is questionable after what happened to a lot of the same players under Mourinho. Whilst Diego Costa is a combustible character and probably had to go, Chelsea’s failure to lure Romelu Lukaku could prove a big mistake with Morata needing time to adapt to the English game. Selling Nemanja Matic to Manchester United to me was also a real head scratcher, and Antonio Conte looked less then pleased with this decision when quizzed about it.
 
Overall, I have put Chelsea 4th for the title, as I believe they still retain an outstanding Coach and a fairly potent starting line-up. However, with both Manchester Clubs having reinforced and strengthened, Chelsea will not enjoy the same saloon run they encountered last season with other squads’ stumbling and bumbling. Chelsea needed to add more numbers to their squad and instead they look a touch weaker, for me, and, with European Football providing a lot tougher campaign, that spells trouble at Stamford Bridge.