With every win, Chelsea become more and more likely to be crowned Premier League champions, now needing just 19 points to ensure no rival can possibly catch them. That got me thinking about winners' medals, who has enough appearances to receive one should the Blues clinch the title.
For those of you new to this, the Premier League winners are given a medal for every player that makes five Premier League appearances or more. Here's a look at every Chelsea player with a Premier League appearance*, sorted by position:
*Players with enough appearances to be given a medal are in bold
Goalkeepers
Thibaut Courtois - 25
Petr Cech - 5
Defenders
Branislav Ivanovic - 29
John Terry - 29
Gary Cahill - 27
Cesar Azpilicueta - 22
Filipe Luis - 12
Kurt Zouma - 9
Midfielders
Eden Hazard - 29
Willian - 28
Nemanja Matic - 27
Cesc Fabregas - 26
Oscar - 24
Ramires - 19
Andre Schurrle - 14
John Obi Mikel - 13
Juan Cuadrado - 4
Mohamed Salah - 3
Ruben Loftus-Cheek - 1
Forwards
Diego Costa - 23
Didier Drogba - 21
Loic Remy - 15
So as things stand right now, Chelsea would be giving 19 different players a winners' medal, including one to Andre Schurrle, who no longer plays for the club. That number will almost certainly climb to 20 very shortly, with Juan Cuadrado needing just one more appearance in order to hit the magic number.
Mohamed Salah will definitely not be given a medal, as he's away at Fiorentina, and sitting on just three appearances. With that out of the way, let's just keep winning games, so that this exercise wasn't for nothing.