Champs Chelsea may lose grip on the trophy

Lifting the Premier League title is difficult but carrying the tag of champions has been too burdensome for recent winners and Chelsea could also fall short of retaining the crown.

Not since Manchester United's hat-trick between 2007 and 2009 has the same team been up to the podium 12 months later with Chelsea's last title defence ending in the chaos of a tenth-place finish in 2016.

Life should not be so turbulent this time around, although Antonio Conte reportedly spent the summer fighting for power regarding Chelsea's transfer policy and it remains to be seen whether they were as superior to the chasing pack last season as the table suggested.

The Blues missed out on the double with a lifeless loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup final and Conte will have to guard against complacency if he is to match last season's grand efforts.

In a galaxy of coaching talents, Conte was the Premier League's star gaffer, successfully changing formation to 3-4-3 during an embarrassingly inept 3-0 loss at Arsenal in September which saw the ragged Blues pushed out to 25-1 for the title.

What followed was a masterclass as Chelsea fell two points short of the 95-point Premier League record. They managed the most ever Premier League wins with 30 and after the switch to 3-4-3 they recorded 13 straight victories before the run was ended by their only challengers, Tottenham.

The lack of European football was an advantage and Conte has attempted to beef up the squad with arrivals right through the spine of the side in Willy Caballero, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata.

A raft of youngsters have become frustrated and moved on over the summer and they will soon be joined by Diego Costa following Conte's decision to ditch the temperamental striker.

Long-term Morata will be expected to fill his boots with Eden Hazard (when he returns from injury) and Pedro flanking the former Real Madrid man, but Costa's presence was considerable.

He hit 20 league goals for the second time in three Stamford Bridge campaigns and those strikes were worth 15 points to Chelsea, although it was N'Golo Kante who scooped the PFA Player of the Year award.

Kante summed up Chelsea's hunger and defensive prowess - maintaining that is Conte's considerable challenge.

Key stat
Chelsea scored first in 30 Premier League games last season.