What They Said in 2016/17: Chelsea
Chelsea ran away with the Premier League title in a memorable first season at Stamford Bridge for Italian manager Antonio Conte.
As we look back at the last 12 months for Chelsea, we’ve picked out some of our favourite quotes from the key moments throughout the campaign.
Kante leaves Premier League champions Leicester to join Chelsea
“I am so happy to have signed for one of the biggest clubs in Europe. It’s a dream come true for me,” said Kante.
“The opportunity to work with Antonio Conte, a brilliant coach, and some of the best players in the world was simply too good to turn down.”
After a strong start, Chelsea were shown to be fallible as they were beaten by Liverpool and then suffered a 3-0 loss to Arsenal – forcing Conte to switch to 3-4-3.
“After today we are thinking we must work a lot because we are a great team only on paper,” Conte said.
“We have not got the balance and now is the moment to consider everything. It is incredible to concede three goals.”
The new formation works a treat and Chelsea go on a remarkable run of 13 straight win with their 4-2 success against Stoke City matching the Premier League record.
“To win 13 games in a row in this league is very difficult,” said Conte.
Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images for Premier League
“When you win a lot, there is a great danger to be satisfied, to be relaxed and think, in the end, we’ve won a lot in the past and a draw, if we don’t win, is not important.”
But they were beaten 2-0 by title rivals Spurs as Dele Alli scored a brace, not that Conte was too concerned.
“I saw a game with a great balance. It is not easy to play against Tottenham. But we played with a good personality to create the chances to score a goal, but we could not take them,” he said.
In the end though, the defeat failed to knock the Chelsea juggernaut off track and the Blues sealed the Premier League title with a 1-0 win over West Brom on May 12.
Captain Gary Cahill said: “There is no better feeling than this. People wrote us off as a team and individually but, consistently, we have been the best in the league. We are champions.”
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Wins against Watford and Sunderland completed the season with Antonio Conte delighted.
He said: “This is a dream come true. For sure, it’s a dream. This is for my players. It is a great achievement because this is the hardest championship to win in the world.”
And as the season started with a high profile arrival it concluded with a departure as club legend John Terry said goodbye to Stamford Bridge in the final game of the season.
(Photo by Chris Brunskill Ltd/Getty Images)
“Words cannot describe the love I have for our football club and our amazing Chelsea fans,” he said.
“You mean the world to me and every trophy we’ve won during my time at the club we’ve won together. I will never forget the incredible journey we’ve been on.”
