Courtois credits whole Chelsea squad for defensive record

Thibaut Courtois claims it is the whole Chelsea team, not just their defenders, who deserve credit for their exceptional defensive record this season.

After losing 3-0 at Arsenal in late September, Blues manager Antonio Conte switched to a 3-4-3 formation in a move that has worked wonders for the team – going on to lose just one of their 18 games since, conceding only eight goals in the process.

Despite the defence taking most of the plaudits, Courtois believes that every player should be praised for the turnaround in the team’s fortunes and is thoroughly enjoying the positive atmosphere surrounding the team as a result.

“We defend very well as a team, it’s not only the three or the five in front of me, it’s because all the team do their job and if we play like that it’s hard for other teams to score goals,” the Belgian goalkeeper said.

Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images for Premier League

“The players don’t want to relax. We know we still have 14 games to go so we just want to show that we are strong and we don’t want to lose points.

“When the team is doing well and you’re winning, the atmosphere is very good. You can see that on the pitch, everybody is enjoying it and working for each other, so that’s very good.

“When you’re in a winning side it’s very good but even last year when we weren’t doing very well the atmosphere wasn’t bad, we always try to do our best.”