LONDON — The five-year drought is over. Chelsea is Premier League champion again — with three games to spare.
Chelsea’s players danced around the field after securing the title with a scrappy 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday that encapsulated the recent cautious pragmatism of Jose Mourinho’s team.
"Today was not a game to enjoy," Mourinho said. "Today was the game to finish the job."
Watch match highlights: Chelsea 1, Crystal Palace 0 || Tottenham 0, Man City 1 ||
But it was a trophy that was really won in the opening months of the season, with Chelsea having been atop the standings from the opening weekend. With only two losses in 35 games, Chelsea was rarely troubled in its pursuit of a fourth league title in 11 seasons — and the fifth in its 110-year history.
"This is unbelievable, we’ve worked so hard this year to get over the line," captain John Terry said as the blue and white streamers descended on the Stamford Bridge field. "Today was a tough match, a little bit nervous, but we got over the line."
Fittingly, the title-winning goal came from Eden Hazard, a week after the Belgium winger’s dynamic, individual displays were honoured by his fellow professionals with the player of the year award.
Although Hazard’s uncharacteristically weak penalty kick was saved by Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni at the end of the first half, the Belgian headed in the rebound for his 14th league goal of the season.
The victory was enough to establish an insurmountable 13-point lead and dethrone Manchester City, which has now failed in both its title defences since 2012 despite heavy investment from its Abu Dhabi ownership. Chelsea is 16 points ahead of Arsenal, which has five games left to play.
"We showed absolutely everything since day one, everything football demands from a team," Mourinho said. "We had fantastic attacking football, we had fantastic domination … we defended amazingly well."
The team also won the League Cup in March and Mourinho’s third Premier League title success confirms that the Portuguese coach is back at the pinnacle of management in England.
Chelsea had only won the topflight once in its first century — in 1955 — when Mourinho delivered the Premier League title a decade ago after the club’s fortunes were transformed following the 2003 takeover by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Mourinho defended the title in 2006 before losing a power struggle with Abramovich the following year and going off to win titles for Inter Milan and Real Madrid before being welcomed back to Stamford Bridge in 2013.
During Mourinho’s six year-absence, Chelsea won the league only once in 2010 under Carlo Ancelotti and the Portuguese manager returned to a Chelsea with the club’s finances now constrained by UEFA Financial Fair Play rules.
"When you go back to a place where you had success before, you risk a little bit your prestige and history," Mourinho said after a winning a 22nd career title. "But I won again and now I can say I won titles for Chelsea with two different generations. … A new team won."
Chelsea has spent around $340 million on players in the last two years, but around $250 million was recouped by outgoing transfers. And perhaps the most significant addition was Diego Costa, who was brought in to bolster the strike force.
The $52-million striker’s 19 league goals between August and March propelled Chelsea to the summit. His recent absence with a recurrence of hamstring problems has coincided with the team losing some of its early-season swagger.
Former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas, recruited from Barcelona last year, has also faded in the second half of the season but his assists in the first half of the campaign provided the impetus for the title charge.
At the bedrock of the triumph has been Chelsea’s sturdy defence, which has conceded a league-low 27 goals.
The back four has been anchored commandingly by Terry, the 34-year-old centre back who has enjoyed a late-career revival under Mourinho and stifled the Palace attacks in a nervy conclusion on Sunday.
"One person said I couldn’t play twice in a week. He knows who he is," Terry said in a reference to Rafa Benitez, a manager in the 2012-13 season. "I have proved him wrong as I’m still fighting."
Mourinho is also fighting against accusations that Chelsea is boring despite seeing off any threat from Arsenal and City while relying on 37-year-old striker Didier Drogba up front recently.
The Ivorian has been in all four of Chelsea’s Premier League title-winning sides after a spell abroad between the third and fourth triumphs.
"This one is sweet," Drogba said. "With or without me, Chelsea will always be No. 1."
And that’s how the team will end this season.
