Five key moments in Chelsea’s Premier League title-winning season

Chelsea were crowned Premier League champions after a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge. We take a look at five key defining moments that helped them on the way to the title.

Early transfers
Jose Mourinho’s decisiveness last summer to identify the players he wanted and swoop for them paid dividends. The arrival of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabgregas made a statement to the rest of the Premier League that the Blues wanted to win silverware, and they were willing to pay the price.

The duo have been instrumental in the Blues’ campaign, with Costa scoring 19 goals and Fabregas contributing 18 assists.

Three defensive midfielders
When Chelsea lost to Tottenham 5-3 earlier in the season, Mourinho changed tack. Up until that point, there had been an emphasis on attractive football, though in true-Mourinho style, the Portuguese boss reverted back to what had won him multiple titles in his career already.

When Fabregas was injured, he utilised Nemanja Matic, Ramires and John Obi Mikel in a flat defensive midfield three, with Chelsea wearing teams down, keeping things tight and striking on the counter-attack.

Sergio Aguero injury
Perhaps Chelsea’s biggest challengers for the title, Manchester City were pushing them close until star striker Aguero got injured, which subsequently saw City drop points as Chelsea were able to pull away.

With no effective replacement for the Argentinian, goals for Manuel Pellegrini’s side dried up, and they had to play James Milner up front on occasions.

A cold night in Stoke
It is the old cliche, that teams competing for the title should be able to go away to a tough place like the Britannia Stadium and get three points.