After five wins in a row, by a combined scoreline of 16-0, we've come to the point where only things left to state are the obvious things. This is not a slight on the people speaking; it's just the reality of the situation. Chelsea have really been that good. Chelsea have really been that creative and smart in attack, that impenetrable and aggressive in midfield, that solid and stingy and in defense.
"Chelsea showed us a very high level of football in every aspect. How aggressive you need to play, quality on the ball and winning second balls, there was a big difference. I didn't expect it but that's what happened."
-Ronald Koeman; source: Chelsea FC
Koeman, taking a page out of West Ham manager Slaven Bilic's book, tried to mirror the 3-4-3 at the start, but that went poorly. Playing three at the back with Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams is as if Chelsea deployed two John Terrys instead of a David Luiz and a Gary Cahill. By the time Koeman corrected that error, it was too late. Then again, Chelsea had no trouble playing against the 4-2-0 either.
"When you have this type of performance you are very happy, I'm pleased above all for my players. It's important to win but when you win in this way it's great. It can improve our confidence and I'm very pleased tonight."
"When you see every day the players' commitment and work rate it's important to have this type of performance. We can continue to work very hard and trust in our work."
"We don't want to send a message to other teams, we want to send one to ourselves. It's important to be focused on our work. We want to improve and we are working a lot. This is the right way and the players are recognising that. Everton is now the past and after the international break we must start again in the same way we've left it today."
"What was important was to win, play good football and bring our principles to the pitch. When you play five in a row and don't concede you can be satisfied. Everton changed their formation and system, they tried to find a solution where it was man to man in every zone of the pitch. Every coach uses a system with different ideas."
"We have good players with great talent and we have to put them in the best situation to exploit their talent. There was a fantastic atmosphere with our supporters and we must continue to work together."
-Antonio Conte; source: Chelsea FC
The stated aim for this season was to get back into the top four and the Champions League as quickly as possible, hopefully utilizing the extra rest and training time afforded by the sparse schedule to gain a slight advantage over our closest competitors. After a mixed start to the season, we seem to be seeing the benefits of all this extra training and learning. Chelsea are operating ridiculously well as a unit these days, the clean bill of health enabling the continuity in the starting lineup.
There will be worse days at some point, but there's no reason to not be confident at this stage of at least meeting, if not exceeding those goals set at the start of the season.