The Blues are Premier League champions for the first time since 2010 but who is the standout player from this year's squad? Cast your vote in our poll below...
It's 'Mission: Accomplished' for Chelsea in the second season of Jose Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge. Victory over Crystal Palace earlier this month mathematically secured a Premier League title that had been in the bag for months, won with a combination of swagger in autumn, grit in spring and a relentless desire for victory throughout. Against this backdrop, Champions League disappointment presents only much-needed incentive for further improvement.
The success was built on a brilliant summer of recruitment. Marquee arrivals Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa were the two outstanding players in the country over the first five months of the campaign, while returning loanee Thibaut Courtois serenely deposed club legend Petr Cech with a series of nerveless performances. Their impact complemented the remarkable resurgence of captain John Terry at the heart of the defence and the next stage of Eden Hazard's development into the finest match-winner in England.
But who has been the standout performer? Goal has picked out the three star men from Chelsea’s campaign, leaving you with a poll to decide who their player of the season is...
DIEGO COSTA
Last season, Chelsea came within four points of the Premier League title despite not boasting a single striker of championship calibre. Since his arrival Costa has, quite simply, been the difference - despite only featuring in 25 of 37 games due to a combination of persistent muscular issues and suspension.
His 19 goals - including crucial strikes against Arsenal and Liverpool - have been the most obvious benefit but Costa offers so much more. He is the perfect Mourinho striker: tough, physical, selfless and utterly relentless. Opponents hate him because they fear him and team-mates love him for what he is willing to give.
That fiery temperament can at times be a liability rather than an asset and Chelsea must find a way to limit those hamstring niggles next season but, on the whole, Costa has been a roaring success.
EDEN HAZARD
The popular candidate, given his impressive achievement in scooping both the PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year gongs earlier this month. Once described as "the best young player in the world" by Mourinho, Hazard is now almost universally regarded as the finest footballer in the Premier League.
His case is a strong one: 14 goals and eight assists during Chelsea's title run, including strikes against Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. Just as impressive is the fact that he, Terry and Branislav Ivanovic are the only Blues to have started all 37 Premier League games this season.
But the most impressive achievement of all is that as Costa's body failed him and Fabregas faded, it was Hazard who stepped up to fire Chelsea to their first title since 2010 with six goals in nine matches between March and May. The classy Belgian has always been easy on the eye but this season has seen him blossom into a true talisman.
JOHN TERRY
A man whose influence Andre Villas-Boas feared and who Rafa Benitez believed could not play two matches in a week, Terry's rejuvenation under Mourinho has been nothing short of remarkable.
Chelsea's return to a deep-lying backline has enabled the grizzled veteran to once again defend with the game in front of him, allowing him to maximise his undiminished powers of organisation, positioning and anticipation while limiting the opportunities for opponents to expose his chronic lack of pace.
The results have been spectacular. At the grand old age of 34, 10 years on from claiming his first Premier League title, Terry can once again stake a strong claim to being the most consistently excellent defender in England. Pride of place in the PFA Team of the Year is the least he deserves.
source:Goal.com
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