Yes: Ashley Hammond, Staff Reporter

If Chelsea beat Tottenham away on Wednesday to equal Arsenal’s 2002 record of most consecutive wins (14), they will almost certainly have the momentum to go all the way this season.

You can’t ignore the confidence that will give them, and how it will intimidate other clubs.

Yes, there’s the view that they will have to slip up at some point, and playing three at the back does make them potentially vulnerable — not that they’ve shown it so far — but even if they do go on a bit of a wobble, they can surely still do enough to bring it home.

None of the other big clubs are posing a consistent threat this season and, over the past decade, only three clubs who were leading at Christmas failed to secure the title — Arsenal in 2007 and Liverpool twice in 2009 and 2014.

Chelsea will like those odds and, unlike Arsenal and Liverpool, the Blues have players with recent experience of seeing out a title race. They have after all won four of the club’s total five titles over the past 12 years, the most recent coming just the season before last. So, it’s not as though they are chokers.

Everybody was saying Leicester City, who don’t have the experience of closing in on a title, were going to slip up last season and they didn’t, so you can’t see Chelsea, with the spirit and experience of this almost record-equalling run of wins, messing up.

Chelsea have won more games and scored more goals against Spurs than against any other Premier League opponent.

Indeed, Spurs have only beaten Chelsea four times in a total of 49 Premier League games.

And even if they lose against Spurs — who between patches of inconsistency this season have taken scalps — Chelsea, who are five points clear with this game in hand, are still sitting comfortably.

Besides Liverpool away and Arsenal at home at the end of January and early February, they have a relatively easy run until April.

Liverpool and Arsenal are the only teams they’ve lost against so far this season, but that occurred in September, before the change of formation. After this current run, you can’t see the same happening again, however.

After the Man City win away at the start of December, I held myself back from saying it was Chelsea’s season, but I can’t do the same if they are to beat Spurs away on Wednesday.

No:

Adrian Abraham, Special to Gulf News

Antonio Conte’s trademark three at the back is a formation we’ve seen the Italian successfully master during his tenure at Juventus and the Italian national team. However, it’s too early to define them as runaway Premier League champions despite their unbeaten run.

There is always the danger of being caught out when playing with a back three. The trio can easily be stretched across the pitch creating an element of risk that can seriously harm the team. Or play too narrow.

They’ve not shown much defensive frailty of late, but the Blues conceded their first goal in 450 minutes against Stoke City over the weekend and now face an in-form Tottenham side looking to derail their title aspirations.

Chelsea haven’t dropped points since the 3-0 loss to Arsenal in September and have won 13 games in a row, but that record looks under threat now more than ever.

Only five points separate second and sixth place, keeping in mind any team can take points off each other due to the severe competitive nature of the league. The Blues have no room for complacency given the tough run of fixtures against title challengers Liverpool and Arsenal in the space of four days (January 31st and 4th February).

Manchester United are not out of the title race just yet. Six wins in a row have seen the Red Devils make significant steps in catching the title challengers. Liverpool have been playing some delightful football under Jurgen Klopp and Arsenal have the potential to challenge. Manchester City, despite the current situation at the club, can’t be ruled out and, given the run Spurs are on, it’s still early to form a conclusion.

Can we really rule out a Chelsea slump? A few losses or draws can have drastic consequences on their title hopes and one can never eliminate potential injuries to Eden Hazard, Diego Costa or N’Golo Kante.

The second half of the season is when teams display their true colours and, in the last 10 years, only Carlo Ancelotti and Manuel Pellegrini have won the league during their first managerial stint in England. Conte has one eye on that record but there is still a long way to go.

(Adrian Abraham is an intern at Gulf News)