Captain John Terry believes Chelsea have rediscovered their identity under Jose Mourinho to make a Premier League title tilt.
Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-1 on Sunday to move two points behind Arsenal at the halfway stage in a campaign which has seen Mourinho’s men beat Manchester City and Liverpool and draw at Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal.
In the last two seasons Chelsea have struggled to remain in contention – in 2012 they finished 25 points behind winners City and in 2013 they were 14 points behind champions United, each time after being well adrift by Christmas – but Terry reckons the Blues now have the character to secure narrow wins, such as Sunday’s.
“The last couple of years we’ve lost our identity a little bit,” Terry said. “There’s some good teams in the league and when you go 3-2 up (for example) it’s important you get men behind the ball and dig in deep and not give them opportunities to really feed on.
“At times when we’re looking really solid, getting the wide men in and then when we do break it’s important for them to go again and show their fresh legs going forward.”
One of those wide men is Eden Hazard, who netted his eighth Premier League goal of the season to cancel out Martin Skrtel’s opener, before Samuel Eto‘o’s winner.
Terry was full of praise for Hazard, who has become “a complete player” since adopting the new-found work defensive work ethic demanded by Mourinho.
“It’s important you keep it tight at the back and you look for those type of players to create something or do something out of nothing,” Terry added.
“He’s been doing that all season (and) scoring. The last four or five games he’s been really tracking back. He’s really dug in and added that to his game and made him the complete player.”
Chelsea have tended to rise to the occasion against the bigger sides and did so again against Liverpool in a performance Terry believes was the Blues’ best so far this term.
A ninth win from 10 home games – West Brom the only blip, when Hazard converted a late penalty to earn a draw – extended Mourinho’s unbeaten Premier League run at home to 70 games.
