Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger claims Chelsea will win the title in the same way that Leicester City did by giving up possession and refusing to ‘seize the initiative’.
Chelsea can win the title with a win against West Brom on Friday when they travel to play the Baggies at the Hawthorns.
Conte, 48, has been widely praised for the impact he’s made at Stamford Bridge during his first season at the club after the Blues finished tenth last season.
Leicester City were famously crowned champions against all odds last term but their style of play was far from universally popular. The Foxes were happy to give up possession and preferred to hit teams on the counter-attack.
And Wenger believes Chelsea have picked up from where the Foxes left off and says something must be done if teams refuse to ‘entertain’.
‘I still think a sport has to encourage initiative and if it rewards teams who don’t take initiative, then we have to rethink
the whole process because people will not come to watch,’ said Wenger.
‘I don’t know if it is a long-term trend. We always analyse the Champions League and I must say, some seasons, the team who had low possession won the Champions League. Over a longer period, it is still the teams who have the most possession who win the Champions League.
‘Football is a balance — the right balance between possession and progressing. Sometimes we had some games this season when we had 70 per cent possession, like West Brom, and we lost 3-1, and like Crystal Palace where we had 70 per cent possession and we lost 3-0
‘So that means, on the day, our balance was not right.
‘I am convinced you still need to have the ball to create goal chances and I believe you cannot encourage youth teams to say, ‘We do not want the ball.’
‘You cannot buy big players and say, ‘We do not want the ball.’ Big players want the ball.’
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