With few people seeing past Manchester City and Liverpool when it comes to this season’s title race Chelsea appear to be flying somewhat under the radar despite their faultless start to the campaign which has seen them take maximum points from their first four games.
But if Maurizio Sarri is to bring the Premier League trophy back to West London then he’ll have to join an elite group of managers who have won the English top-flight title at the first time of asking; including three former Stamford Bridge bosses.
Since the Premier League began four managers have claimed the biggest prize in English football at their first attempt, so can Sarri make it five?
Jose Mourinho
The Portuguese certainly turned a few heads when he won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 but few believed the self-proclaimed “Special One” had the ability or experience to threaten some of the most established names in English football at the time quite as quickly as he did.
However, Mourinho wasted no time in pitting his wits against Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering Manchester United side and Arsene Wenger’s Gunners who had gone the whole of the previous season unbeaten by amassing a then record breaking 93 points as his Chelsea team won the league in his first season at Stamford Bridge.
Carlo Ancelotti
With something of a reputation for being a fire-fighter it’s probably not surprising that Carlo Ancelotti was parachuted into Stamford Bridge with the Blues looking to wrestle the Premier League title back from Manchester United who had just completed a hat trick of titles and wasted no time in making his presence felt in English football.
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In his first season with the club his methodical approach paid dividends and thanks to the 29 goals of Didier Drogba and impressive cameos from the likes of Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda, Chelsea not only pipped Manchester United to win the Premier League but also completed the double by beating Portsmouth in the FA Cup final.
Manuel Pellegrini
In years to come Manuel Pellegrini will probably not be remembered as one of the greatest Manchester City managers yet he’s one of only a handful of top-flight bosses who can claim to have won the title in his first season at the helm, putting him in pretty good company.
After an epic battle with Liverpool in the final months of the 2013/14 season Pellegrini’s men kept their cool, despite Brendan Rodgers side looking to have the title in the grasp, and were perfectly placed to pounce when an untimely slip blew the title race wide open with just three games left, as City did what they needed to in order to win their second Premier League title.
Antonio Conte
Having arrived at Stamford Bridge from Juventus, via the Italian national side, Antonio Conte became the third Chelsea manager to win the league in his first season, keeping up something of a modern tradition for the Blues which Maurizio Sarri will be keen to continue.
Conte had guided the Azzurri to the quarter-finals of the 2016 European Championships and won three Serie A and two Supercoppa Italiana titles while in Turin so expectations were high, though few could have predicted just what an impact he would have as he took Chelsea to their fifth Premier League title, finishing the season and seven points clear of Tottenham Hotspur.
