Chelsea's 10th-to-title repeat bid under Xabi Alonso
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- Chelsea finished 10th in 2025-26 with almost identical statistics to their 2015-16 campaign under Guus Hiddink — the same goal difference and just two points more than a decade ago.
- Antonio Conte led Chelsea from 10th to Premier League champions in 2016-17, improving by a record 43 points after switching to a back three, with the club winning 13 consecutive league games.
- Xabi Alonso, Chelsea's new manager, previously took Bayer Leverkusen from the relegation zone to an unbeaten Bundesliga title in 2023-24 — a 40-point improvement while playing a back three.
- Chelsea were the fourth-most dominant team in the Premier League by underlying xG numbers but scored 8 fewer goals than expected (58 from xG of 66.3), with a five-game scoreless run under Liam Rosenior — the first in 114 years — leading to his dismissal.
- Big Six sides without European football have historically taken 16 more points on average and moved up five places the following season, a trend Chelsea could benefit from this campaign.
- The Premier League title threshold has dropped in recent years, with Arsenal's winning total last season the second-lowest since Leicester's title-winning campaign a decade earlier.
- Only Leicester (2015-16) and Chelsea (2016-17) have ever jumped from outside the top three to champions in consecutive Premier League seasons, making any repeat attempt historically unprecedented.
Why it matters: For Chelsea fans and title contenders, the central question is whether Alonso's proven track record — transforming Leverkusen from the relegation zone to unbeaten champions — combined with the structural advantage of a European-free schedule can replicate Conte's 43-point swing, which remains the largest in Premier League title-winning history.
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