Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes last season’s nightmarish 10th-place finish will make winning the league this year even more special than in 2014/15.
The Blues were runaway champions under Jose Mourinho that season, before team spirit seemingly imploded just months later, leading to the Portuguese being sacked midway through the following campaign.
Chelsea were just above the relegation zone when Mourinho left, before caretaker coach Guus Hiddink steadied the ship enough to give the club a safe mid-table finish.
Still, the improvement has been significant under Antonio Conte, and Courtois believes that rapid rise to prove their critics wrong will make this win all the more satisfying.
‘This year it will be even more special, even more nice because last year was very bad. We had a lot of criticism and a new manager (Conte) came in,’ Courtois told talkSPORT.
‘We also lost a few games near the start and again there were a lot of critics, but we bounced back as a group very hard.
‘We have played very well, so from that point of view it will be great to lift the trophy very soon.’
Chelsea need just one more win to be crowned champions and take on West Brom in their next game, though Courtois has warned his team-mates against celebrating too early.
‘We hope to do it at the first attempt. We know West Brom are a hard team to play against, we had a very tough game here,’ he said.
‘Every opponent who goes there has a hard game, they are eighth in the League and have had a very good year.’
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