The 2016/17 season marks the 25th of the Premier League after its formation in 1992 and two Nigerian players, Victor Moses and Ola Aina were part of the remarkable outing of victorious Stamford Bridge side, Chelsea Football Club this season.
Chelsea had garnered 90 points after Monday’s 4-3 victory over Watford. Although, they had been declared winners since last Friday after subduing West Brom Albion.
Chelsea scored 80 goals after 37 games and conceded just 32 goals to mount the podium of honour this season.
With this victory, Victor Moses has joined his national team mate, John Mikel Obi who was a winner with Chelsea in 2010 and 2015 respectively.
But historically, former Arsenal striker, Nwankwo Kanu, was the first Nigerian player to wear the EPL gold medal in 2002 and 2004 with the Gunners. Having joined Arsenal in February 1999, Kanu had to wait three years for his first league title.
Kanu played 23 league games, most of them as a substitute and scored three goals as Arsenal won the league title.
In 2004, the year of the invincibles, Kanu hardly got into the team and managed just the required 10 games to get a Premier League medal. He scored just one league goal that season.
Mikel Obi: Having joined Chelsea in 2006, Mikel had to wait four years for his first league title. Under Carlo Ancelotti, Mikel played 25 games for Chelsea as they won the league. He didn’t score any goal. Mikel played 18 times for Chelsea as they won the league in 2015.
That year, he won his second Premier League title, this time under Jose Mourinho. This season, Moses made 33 league appearances in total for Chelsea, as they won the Premier League in 2017.
Moses just joined this elite list having helped Chelsea to a league title five years after. Moses was a very influential part of the Premier League title-winning Chelsea squad under Antonio Conte.
He made 22 consecutive Premier League starts, 28 league starts and 33 league appearances in total for Chelsea, scoring three goals.
He is the Nigerian player with the most Premier League appearances for a title winning team ever.
After three years out on loan, with none of those spells particularly impressive, few could have seen Moses having any kind of future with Chelsea this season, let alone being one of their best players in a position he’d never played in before.
According to Anthonio Conte, Chelsea are no longer necessarily a club who will farm out players on loan simply to get them into the shop window – young players and overlooked stars now have a chance to impress the Italian, and get in past the fabled Chelsea clique of ageing but established names.
Meanwhile, former internationals, Friday Ekpo and Edema Fuludu lauded Moses outing with the Blues, saying that he deserves to be honoured with CAF African Footballer of Year award.
“Moses has proved the doubters wrong this season. He has shown that he is a true professional with the way he justified himself under a new coach. I am proud of him,” Ekpo said.
Fuludu said Conte’s programmes won the league for him. “The way he motivated his players helped him to get their best on the pitch, though there were other notable factors that made Chelsea a team to beat this season.”
Changing the goalkeeping coach Chelsea’s number one goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, was not happy working under goalkeeper’s trainer, Christophe Lollichon. So, Conte brought in his own specialist, Gianluca Spinelli, which helped convince the Belgian to stay. Courtois seems to have been happier with his work this season and this has been evident in his performances. Effectively demoting Lollichon, who is close to owner Roman Abramovich, was a bold move but it paid off. Signing of N’Golo Kanté Rarely has a £30million signing been described a bargain, but Kanté has been just that for Chelsea – particularly when you consider he often does the work of two men. The midfielder was voted PFA Player of the Year, thus improving on his performances in Leicester’s title-winning season. Conte has stressed the need for Kanté to look to pass forward more often and he has taken that on.
Gamble on David Luiz
It looked like a crazy move for Chelsea to bring back the Brazilian, who did not seem to fit Conte’s safety-first approach. But the Italian created the perfect position for Luiz in the middle of a back three and has helped him cut out the ridiculous mistakes. Luiz has barely put a foot wrong and has proved superb value for money at around £30million.
Switch to a back three
Three has been the magic number for Chelsea. Three goals down against Arsenal after 55 minutes, Conte sent on summer signing Marcos Alonso to replace Cesc Fabregas in perhaps the most significant change of the season. Chelsea’s new-look back three did not concede any more goals and Conte had found a system that he trusted. Victor Moses stepped in at right wing-back for the following victory over Hull and Conte had cracked it. Even Arsène Wenger has followed suit.
Moses has proved the doubters wrong this season. He has shown that he is a true professional with the way he justified himself under a new coach
Setting up a supper club
Conte quickly highlighted the fact that he needed to bring back a sense of togetherness inside Chelsea. He set up a super club for the players and coaches to go out and eat as a group at, among other places, London’s trendy Nobu restaurant. It was not just the players who got the personal touch, either. Conte made a surprise personal appearance at the staff Christmas party and gave a speech to the receptionists, door attendants and security staff, thanking them for their hard work.
Winning at Manchester City:
This was the moment in December that Chelsea really started to believe they could win the title. A year earlier, they would have been comfortably dispatched by Pep Guardiola’s team after falling a goal behind and struggling to get hold of the ball. But Conte’s men displayed the kind of clinical edge that became a feature of their success to secure a victory that flooded the squad with belief. It also proved to be a turning point for Fabregas under Conte.
Equalling Arsenal’s record:
Chelsea beat Manchester United, Everton, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur during their winning run that equalled Arsenal’s record in a single season. From October through to January, the Blues were untouchable and opened up a six-point lead at the top of the table. After victory No13 against Stoke City, Spurs were fifth and 13 points back, which ultimately proved too much to make up. Conte out-coached, out-thought and out-performed Guardiola, Mourinho, Wenger and Jürgen Klopp.
Dropping Diego Costa
This was the moment it could have all gone wrong. Costa had his head turned by a big January offer from Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian and rowed with Conte at the training ground. The Italian took the gamble of dropping Costa for the trip to Leicester City and the decision worked as Chelsea won 3-0, Conte had reaffirmed his authority and Costa made a goalscoring return against Hull City the following week. It was a lesson in management and proved Conte would not stand for any nonsense.
Getting Hazard to lose weight
Conte knew he had to get the best out of Eden Hazard to succeed and the first job was to reduce the Belgian’s body fat. That was achieved over a gruelling preseason in which the Italian cut pizza, ketchup and fizzy drinks out of the diets of his players. The result has been that not only has Hazard been better than ever, he has also worked harder than ever. The pick of Hazard’s magic moments came with the superb individual goal against Arsenal in February.
Pedro’s Goodison goal:
Conte would not say it publicly, but Chelsea felt the trip to Everton was the game in which they could win the title. This was the last big test of Chelsea’s run-in and they passed it in large part thanks to Pedro. The Spaniard, who has been so crucial this season, scored with a second-half screamer and from that minute on Chelsea cruised to the win that practically killed off Tottenham’s hopes. Pedro’s strike will surely live long in the memory of the supporters who travelled to Merseyside.
