Poor form and a 3-0 loss to Roma has left Chelsea FC looking for answers, and Arsenal legend Martin Keown places the blame on Conte losing the dressing room.
Ever since their unbeaten run ended at the hands of Manchester City back in September, Chelsea hasn’t looked like a club that should be in the title conversation. The 1-0 scoreline didn’t accurately reflect the gap in skill between the winner and the loser, and since then, their form has been shaky.
Since the City match, Chelsea has three wins, two losses, and one draw. The wins came against Watford, Bournemouth, and Everton.
Not exactly top quality competition, with Watford sitting near the top of the mid table and the latter two clubs being involved in a relegation battle at the moment.
Chelsea’s losses and draws aren’t any better. Immediately after losing to City, they fell 2-1 at Crystal Palace. In the Champions League, they failed to win in either leg against Roma, a club that’s currently placed fifth in Serie A.
Their most recent loss, a 3-0 defeat in Rome, has only increased the pressure that manager Antonio Conte has been feeling. His poor relationship with the Chelsea front office has given him a shorter leash than most other Premier League winning managers, and Conte himself has already directed harsh words towards the press for linking Chelsea with other names.
Conte insisted that the struggles were because of injuries to N’Golo Kante and Victor Moses, but that was before the Roma loss proved that their problems run deeper. Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown had some words about the situation, saying that Conte has lost the belief of his players.
"Chelsea are struggling. Teams are now looking at their system and finding ways to punish them… They may have showed fight to come back from 2-1 down to beat Watford but they could easily have lost that game. Antonio Conte has talked about hunger and hard work but really it is about belief. It looks like these Chelsea players no longer have belief."
This isn’t the first time that Conte has struggled because of having problems with his club. Despite being very successful at Juventus, he left the club by mutual consent because of not being able to spend enough to compete for the Champions League. Years before that, his time with Atalanta ended with clashes between him and the fans.
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The situation at Chelsea is becoming more and more similar to the situation that led to his Juventus exit, and if history repeats itself, Conte could very well be on his way to another club by next season. It makes the upcoming stretch of matches, which includes Manchester United and Liverpool, even more important in the long run for a club that desperately needs a morale boost.