5 reasons why Chelsea will successfully defend their Premier League title 

#4 Grinding out results

Batshuayi scores against West Brom to give Chelsea the lead and the Premier League title.

Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring. - Johan Cruyff.

Make what you want of that quote, but you can't deny the fact that it speaks the hard truth. In the modern age of football, people become fans of teams who play beautiful football, regardless if they produce results or not.

They fall into the illusion of those quick passes, intelligent movements, and clever tricks, ignoring the fact that their team is not producing wins or obtaining titles. This argument can be applied contrarily too, as winning by playing dull and boring football will hardly appeal any fans. What's appreciated is a little bit of both, playing fast and interesting football that is actually effective in producing results.

Chelsea, last season, were the personification of this. Their brand of fast and incisive football was lethal in attack, sturdy in defence, and flamboyant in passing, while also being easy on the eyes and producing required results. They were like a lion when its stalking its prey, crouching while their opponents were probing their rock-hard defence and pouncing with fast passes and incisive counter attacks when they got the ball back.

For stat lovers: Chelsea won 30 out of their 38 games in the EPL last season - giving them a spectacular win percentage of 78.94%. The reason for obtaining results like these is that Manager Conte oriented his 3-4-3 system in such a way that there are always seven players either attacking or defending during the match. Though this process required high work rate, it created more chances up front and made sure that defence was not isolated and thereby, not exploited.

Unless you've been living under a rock, Chelsea don't look to be in good form as seen by their results after the start of the new season. But if they manage to revive and maintain this this effectual and lethal style of play from last season, which they most likely will, expect them to replicate last season's success and give the other clubs a run for their money.