‘It’s slotting into place’ says Chelsea coach
Steve Holland said the Capital One Cup victory at Arsenal was a further sign that Chelsea have found their feet under Jose Mourinho.
The Blues endured a patchy start to Mourinho’s second spell as boss – the low point being a shock home defeat against Basel in the Champions League.
But they have now won six successive matches and their 2-0 triumph at the Emirates Stadium came two days after a dramatic victory against title rivals Manchester City.
And assistant first-team coach Holland believes those two results have given the players a huge confidence boost.
He said: “It’s been coming, but this will reinforce it. It took a bit of time in the early weeks but now we’ve hit a spell of six consecutive wins.
“There are principles that Jose has been hammering home in training every day and there’s been evidence of that in the last few games.
“Whether it’s Willian tracking back tonight or Andre Schurrle doing the same on Sunday, the understanding of what was required was exactly the same – that’s a really significant thing.
“We put ourselves under intense pressure in the Champions League by losing to Basel but responded with two fantastic results in Europe and had six wins out of six across the month.
“We’re in a good place at the moment. Slowly we’ve been able to see things slotting into place.”
Chelsea showed their strength in depth against the Premier League leaders by sweeping them aside after making 10 changes from the City game.
Goalscorers Cesar Azpilicueta and Juan Mata were excellent on their return to the side, while the likes of Michael Essien and Ryan Bertrand also reminded Mourinho of their ability.
“Jose didn’t want a flat performance and the players responded to that,” said Holland.
“He asked, when he addressed the players, to be given a selection problem for the weekend – he wants [selection] headaches.
“What appears to be our preferred team now won’t be the same in January and in April or March it will be different.
“Things will change and we need a squad to compete in four competitions.”
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