The Story of Chelsea's Premier League Christmas No. 1s

Call it an omen, but Chelsea are top of the Premier League table for Christmas. When that happens, they always win the title. It happened in 2004/05, 2005/06, 2009/10 and when the Blues were last champions in 2014/15.

The big question now is whether Antonio Conte's side can go on to make it a clean sweep, with five out of five. Currently on a run of 11 wins in a row, the expectation is that they will. Chelsea have already set a club record with those successive victories that have moved them six points clear of their closest rivals, Liverpool.

There seems to be no stopping them, especially as teams struggle to cope with the 3-4-3 system that has bred confidence in the squad as well as striking fear into opponents.

Both Manchester clubs, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur have fallen foul of Chelsea's new-found approach. Now, with so-called favourable fixtures over the festive period against Bournemouth and Stoke City at home, Chelsea are expected to extend their run to reinforce their position as title favourites.

Conte will err on the side of caution in that regard. Speaking this week ahead of the Bournemouth clash on Boxing Day, he explained how he feels uneasy with his side being described as such.

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"I prefer to be favourites on the pitch, not with words," he said. "You can change who is favourites very quickly with words. Chelsea are an example of that. At the start of the season, we were anything but favourites. But now, after 11 wins in a row, we are becoming favourites for the title, with work.

"I'd prefer to be favourites on the pitch with good results, good performances, with good football, to keep clean sheets, to show great passion with my players. It's important, this."

Conte's sentiments are simple to decipher; there is no hidden meaning. It comes down to a simple thing for him, which is the work ethic of his players. If Chelsea continue to apply themselves the way they have, it's that which will make them favourites to go all the way.

It's not about words or the festive fixture list, yet alongside that team ethic that he has championed since taking over at Stamford Bridge, Conte does have something else on his side: history.

Being guided by the ghost of Christmas Past, Bleacher Report takes a walk down memory lane to reflect on Chelsea's previous festive No. 1s.

The Year of the Special One: 2004/05

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If we're looking for trends and how Chelsea's past is impacting their present and future, the 2004/05 campaign is rather apt. Not only was it Jose Mourinho's first year in charge as Chelsea boss, but the run of games that saw his team pull away as league leaders was rather similar to what we have seen now under Conte.

In September it was back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal that saw the change. Conte had seen enough by playing a formation that was kind to the old guard. The four-man defence gave Branislav Ivanovic a starting place and also favoured John Terry.

It wasn't working, though. Chelsea were disjointed and only second best against their rivals. Liverpool taught them a lesson at Stamford Bridge when they dominated the game to win 2-1. A week later, Arsenal did the same, but this time it ended up 3-0 to the Gunners.

With Manchester City eight points clear, it seemed the title was a foregone conclusion for Chelsea. But the switch flicked, Conte felt inspired and now, almost three months on, the feeling is that the title is a foregone conclusion—this time for the rest of the Premier League.

It's been as impressive as it is remarkable. It shows Conte's ability as a coach to understand everything before him and also adapt to his surroundings. He's proving how intelligent he is as a manager.

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Over a decade ago, Mourinho did something similar. It wasn't as dramatic as a formation change, yet the Chelsea boss used defeat to Manchester City in October to inspire a title charge. Having watched his team lose 1-0 at Eastlands, Chelsea slipped to five points behind Arsenal. Arsene Wenger's men were the Invincibles, and we expected they would pull away from there.

Instead, Chelsea reined them in and, come Christmas, were five points clear at the top.

"At half-time [against City], the manager [Mourinho] was livid. It was one of the few times I saw him really angry," John Terry later remembered in his book from the 2004/05 campaign, My Winning Season.

"Roman Abramovich was gutted after the game," Terry continued. "I don’t think he expected something like that so early in the season. [...] He came into the dressing room and just said, 'Why?' There was silence from the players and the staff. It was pretty uncomfortable. I thought then that I didn’t really want to experience that again."

And Chelsea wouldn't. It was the only game they lost all season in the league, as Mourinho galvanised his squad, using the City loss to inspire resilience. We saw a more intense Chelsea side, with Damien Duff and Arjen Robben becoming the stars on the flanks.

Chelsea's form heading into Christmas saw them win seven of nine league matches, drawing against Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal.

The Blues also won all three of their festive fixtures, beating Aston Villa on Boxing Day before victories over Portsmouth and Liverpool. Unable to match that form, Arsenal would find themselves seven points behind when the calendars changed. As a spectacle, the title race was over.

	P	Pts
Chelsea	18	43
Arsenal	18	38
Everton	18	37
Manchester United	18	34

Back-to-back titles: 2005/06

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Having won the Premier League in style the season previous, there was an aura about Mourinho's Chelsea. They were winning matches in the tunnel as players wilted in their presence. They had a dominant look to them, and few were willing to stand up strong and look them in the eye.

When that happens, resistance is futile. Collectively, Chelsea were just too strong, and they ran amok wherever they travelled in 2005/06. Indeed, in the early stages of the season, that was probably the best way to describe them.

Chelsea won their first nine Premier League games in a row. It took until late October and a draw away to Everton for them to drop points in the league, by which time their closest rivals at the top were Charlton Athletic, who sat nine points behind.

Manchester United were fifth, 10 points off the pace, with Arsenal a further two points back in eighth. As a competition, Chelsea were making a mockery of the Premier League.

They sustained that sort of form, too. On Christmas Day, they were nine points clear of United, who had pulled together a run of form that would gain a point on Chelsea but more crucially see them rise the table into the second.

It really was a two-horse race for the title, if we could call it that. Liverpool, who were third, were an incredible 15 points behind Chelsea. The best they could hope for come the end of the season was Champions League qualification.

Chelsea just didn't let up. Having won nine straight games at the start of the campaign, they surpassed that feat by winning 10 league games on the bounce before, during and after Christmas. From November 19 through to January 22, Chelsea didn't drop a single point. It was incredible and left United eventually trailing them by 14 points.

Chelsea just kept on winning and wining, which is what they are doing now—Conte's side has already broken that record of 10 straight victories with 11 and counting.

If they keep that up over Christmas, they will be firmly in pole position for the title.

	P	Pts
Chelsea	17	46
Manchester United	17	37
Liverpool	15	31
Tottenham Hotspur	17	31

King Carlo Delivers: 2009/10

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From being such a destructive force under Mourinho, Chelsea turned that onto themselves as the club imploded. The manager was sacked in September 2007, and it meant the Blues would be left searching for a capable replacement until the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti in 2009.

From 2007 to 2009, Chelsea wouldn't win the title, instead allowing Manchester United to steal a march on them. Where Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari both failed, Ancelotti wouldn't. In his first season as boss, the Italian won the Premier League and FA Cup double—the only time Chelsea have achieved such a feat.

Whereas Christmas had previously been a time for the Blues to reassert authority, though, they almost blew it throughout all of December under Ancelotti.

Having won their first six matches of the season—coupled with five on the trot from 2008/09, Chelsea set a club record of 11 straight league wins—Ancelotti's side were looking impeccable. Despite surprise losses to Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa, Chelsea still had a strong look to them, five points clear at the top.

They would only pick up six points from a possible 15 before the New Year, though, including a disappointing 0-0 draw with Birmingham City on Boxing Day. Had it not been for United losing to Aston Villa and Fulham in the same sequence, it could have been disastrous in terms of their league position and strength.

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Just ahead of the New Year, they got it back together by beating Fulham 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. Just a week earlier, it had been the Cottagers doing Chelsea a favour with a 3-0 victory over United, so they would play a fruitful role in helping the Blues go on to win the title.

With that shaky Christmas form, it did mean Chelsea couldn't pull away from United in the same way they had done in years gone by. For the neutral, it kept the title race alive and therefore interesting, but for Chelsea, it was less easy on the nerves.

As United discovered their form in the New Year, they would usurp the Blues by early March. It became a game of cat and mouse, with both sides and Arsenal not boasting a significant lead over the other. Come the end of the season, Chelsea would win the title by a single point on the last day.

	P	Pts
Chelsea	18	41
Manchester United	18	37
Arsenal	17	35
Aston Villa	18	35

Jose Returns the Hero: 2014/15

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Mourinho, back in charge at Chelsea after a seven-year absence, knew all about an important Christmas in the title race. A year before his side would waltz their way to being crowned the Premier League's best, he had seen them win three out of four festive fixtures, dropping points only against Arsenal.

Having previously dubbed them the "little horse" of the Premier League, it had put the Blues firmly into the reckoning. By mid-January, they were busy swapping positions at the top with the Gunners and Manchester City.

It all felt too soon, though. There was a sense of fragility that hadn't been addressed, and it wasn't until 2014/15, when Chelsea really felt like being Mourinho's team. That season, they would top the table ahead of City by three points and a further seven on Manchester United.

As strong as they looked, they did buck the trend of the usual Mourinho Christmas, however. Having won six of eight Premier League games from November—including a Boxing Day defeat of West Ham United—Chelsea hit a bump in the road.

First they drew 1-1 with Southampton two days later, but the biggest shock would come at White Hart Lane on New Year's Day. Mourinho's Blues were thumped 5-3, and having topped the table from the first weekend of the season, they were only leaders now by virtue of goal difference.

	P	Pts
Chelsea	17	42
Manchester City	17	39
Manchester United	17	32
West Ham United	17	31

City had whittled down their lead to give the Premier League exactly what it had wanted: a title race.

Chelsea would bounce back, though, to take advantage of City's own shortcomings. They would defeat Watford and Swansea City comfortably in the New Year to restore a five-point lead. When they drew 1-1 with City at home at the end of January, it really was curtains in the title race.

Christmas had made it shakier than it needed to be. Normally so strong over the festive period, two poor results had opened the door for City to get back into the title race when Chelsea had been so dominant up to that point.

So what now for Conte?

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @garryhayes.