Chelsea boss Antonio Conte’s legacy at Stamford Bridge in doubt with Premier League champions on verge of Europa League qualification
The Italian guided the Blues to the top-flight title in his maiden season, but has struggled this campaign as they sit eight points behind Tottenham in fifth
FROM Barcelona to Botev Plovdiv — Chelsea fans brace yourselves for 2018-19.
Antonio Conte’s legacy will be a muddled one as a title winner who then took London’s glamour club from the Champions League to the Europa League.
Tottenham fans won’t forget yesterday in a hurry with their first win at Stamford Bridge in nearly 30 years.
But once the full ramifications of this catastrophic defeat sink in, Chelsea supporters will be carrying the mental scars for a long time too.
Instead of stag party trips to Madrid, Rome, Barcelona, it is looking like Bulgaria, Romania and Belarus as the away-day destinations next season — on Thursday nights to rub it in.
That will be Conte’s legacy unless he overturns an eight-point gap on Spurs with just seven games to go. On this evidence that is simply not going to happen.
There are some at Chelsea who think even finishing the season outside the top four will not be a deal breaker when it comes to the manager’s future.
It is unlikely the club will act in the immediate aftermath of this result for two reasons.
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One is that there is an FA Cup still to chase, with the semi-final against Southampton at Wembley on April 22.
The other is that is there is simply not enough time left in the season to sack yet another coach and bring in a caretaker.
What is the point with just a few weeks to go?
But while Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is not so focused purely on results and silverware these days, the manner of this loss will not help Conte’s cause.
Especially when his constant carping about transfers has rubbed the Russian up the wrong way for some time now.
This was the must-win game for Conte. The Italian tells the media every week that he and his team must ‘pay great attention’ and not switch off. But that is exactly what they did in the second half.
From being in the driving seat a goal up, Chelsea’s defence crumbled the way Tottenham used to when the pressure was on in key games.
Dele Alli is 21 years old — as is Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen. But one looked like he still had a lot to learn about top-level football yesterday, while the other played like a wily old pro, snatching two half-chances and turning a crucial game on its head.
Christensen was sent home from international duty with Denmark last week because of extreme fatigue.
While he has rapidly matured as a first-teamer this season, he still looks like a little boy who needs to go to bed early at times.
He was caught out twice, once by Dele’s sneaky run behind his back and the other when he tripped over his own feet.
Maybe Conte should have given Christensen a day off.
But now his squad look set for a year off from Champions League commitments.