With one game remaining before he raises his first Premier League trophy, Antonio Conte still has ambitions for his club. He wants to break the record for most wins in a season, and ensure Thibaut Courtois does not have to share the Golden Glove award.
Antonio Conte keeps finding new ways to show what it means to have a winning mentality. Despite having won the Premier League with two games to spare, he will not relent against Sunderland on Sunday, A win would break Chelsea’s own Premier League record for most wins in a season. And a clean sheet would ensure Thibaut Courtois is the sole winner of the Golden Glove.
Chelsea won 29 games in two previous Premier League seasons. In 2004/05, the Blues drew their last fixture of the season 1-1. They finished 29W-8D-1L, setting the Premier League record. The following season the Blues reached the 29 win mark with two games to spare. They lost both 1-0 to Blackburn and Newcastle.
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Antonio Conte wants to do two things Jose Mourinho failed to do in those campaigns: break the 30-win mark and finish the Premier League season with a victory.
If Chelsea keep Sunderland off the scoreboard, Thibaut Courtois will finish the season with 17 clean sheets. This will earn him his first Premier League Golden Glove outright. If Courtois allows a goal and Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris blanks Hull City, the two will share the award.
Courtois is the first Chelsea goal-keeper to earn the Golden Glove since Petr Cech shared the award in 2013/14. Seventeen clean sheets would be the highest in the Premier League since Joe Hart in 2011/12.
Antonio Conte is relentless in his pursuit of wins and ambition. The culture of winning that he is building at Chelsea means that no game is meaningless, no achievement is worthless and that there is no moment to sit back until the final whistle of the final game. Other managers – including a particular former Chelsea manager – find it acceptable to consign the final day of the season to little more than a scrimmage. This may be because they are looking ahead to a cup tournament, or because they think that nothing rides on the outcome.
Conte knows that if players think any game is disposable, down the line they will think other games are as well. If he permits complacency or tolerates a draw this weekend, he will have a difficult time convincing his side that a mid-week match at Stoke in November is an essential source of three points.
Next: Chelsea vs. Sunderland: Predicted XI to tune up for FA Cup final
As Antonio Conte said in Chelsea’s Christmas video, “every game matters.” Even a fixture between #1 and #20 on the last day of the season.