6 Reasons Chelsea Will Outclass London Rivals Tottenham and Arsenal in 2011-12

London has not had three clubs as strong as Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs for many years.

All three sides participated in the Champions League last season and performed admirably.

But Europe's biggest prize in club football eluded London's finest once more.

Here is why Chelsea will remain the kings of the capital throughout the 2011-12 season.

Follow @jackalexandros on Twitter.

It Is All About the Trophies: Chelsea Has Been There and Done It Already

Chelsea can claim to know how to win trophies and will have the best chance of sustaining a position of strength during the upcoming season, as each London club strives for silverware to reward their loyal fans.

A way to measure how each side can cope during the crunch periods of the season or during clutch moments of matches is how many times has each member of the squad won a trophy throughout his career. Then group together the total for each squad to compare which side is better prepared when the season enters its most important time.

I will only take into consideration club successes in the top tiers of any domestic league or European tournaments and will discount meaningless trophies such as pre-season tournaments which will include glamorized friendlies between champions from the season before.

Arsenal’s collective total amounts to just 25 triumphs from their players. Only Cesc Fábregas and Robin Van Persie can claim to have contributed to that total whilst playing for the Gunners.

Spurs are rather more successful with 61 trophies collectively. Alan Hutton, Ledley King, Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon, Jermaine Jenas, Robbie Keane and Younes Kaboul were part of the League Cup winning side in 2008.

Chelsea, however, is streaks ahead with 140 trophies between each member of its squad that was labeled too thin last season. Thin it may be, but this team knows how to win as well as anybody.

Most importantly, the squad has predominantly won its collection of trophies together during its time with Chelsea. This is crucial for team spirit and motivating each other if or when the club arrives in an opportune moment to claim another piece of silverware.

Chelsea’s Ability to Seamlessly Replace Its Match Winners with Little Fuss

It would be fair to say that Chelsea can call upon a greater number of stars, or shall we say match winners, in its squad. When the season is done, it is likely that Chelsea will possess more players who directly contributed top-class performances that were decisive in close matches.

Arsenal could realistically bank on Cesc Fábregas (provided he stays or presumably his replacement would be of equal quality), Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri (same as Fábregas) certainly. Whilst one might expect Theo Walcott or the new signing Gervinho to play a couple of brilliant games on a less consistent basis.

Spurs would expect Gareth Bale, Rafael Van der Vaart and Luka Modric (again under the same circumstances as Fábregas or Nasri) to be highly significant in hard-fought victories or draws. Aaron Lennon might be thrown in to this category if he can avoid slumps in form like last season, largely caused by injuries.

Chelsea, on the other hand, have an array of attacking talent capable of claiming vital points or helping the club advance in cup competitions when the side is not playing to its high potential.

Instantly one thinks of the strikers, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres (who will surely rediscover his best form with a solid preseason under his belt), Nicolas Anelka and even Daniel Sturridge (whilst with Bolton) have previously shown form in clutch moments of matches when nobody else on the pitch stepped up to decide the game's outcome.

In midfield, there is no doubt that seasoned professionals Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda will again decide matches with goals or telling passes as they have both done for Chelsea in recent years.

Yossi Benayoun, who is now fit again, might come in to the selection mix having previously shown match winning traits during his spells at West Ham and Liverpool where he once scored four goals in one match (granted Arshavin has also achieved this at Arsenal).

But the Israeli is a serial assister in and around the penalty area which is something that the Russian has not shown since his arrival from Zenit Saint Petersburg.

One final name Chelsea will call upon is a defender. Center backs rarely contribute to the outcomes of games consistently at both ends of the pitch, but David Luíz is an exception.

The Brazilian was a phenom on his arrival from Benfica and claimed man of the match performances against Manchester United and Manchester City.

He is also capable of spraying defense-splitting passes the entire length of the pitch and is rumoured to be outclassing the likes of Drogba from set pieces in training. The former Vitória defender certainly counts as a match winner who can be relied upon to make significant contributions.

David Luíz is a certain type of player who is hard to find and those that are found come at a high premium.

This is important in the case of Arsene Wenger, who would be reluctant to buy a proven match winner and Harry Redknapp, who would be more than willing to do so, but might be prevented by his chairman. Chelsea has them in abundance, and this will pay dividends over the course of the season.

Chelsea Is Adept at Juggling Both a Domestic and Champions League Schedule

Something that Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea will all have to do in the upcoming season is adjust to the extra demands of European football with their domestic schedules.

Chelsea has a superior record in domestic games that immediately follow European fixtures compared to Arsenal and Spurs. Obviously in the majority of cases, by playing in Europe, you hand the initiative in terms of preparation, both physically and tactically, to the opposition.

It can be mentally gruelling attempting to compete on multiple fronts and the records from all three clubs last year are telling.

Even worse for Spurs, who will potentially have an extra five games in the Europa League format, they will also have a day less to prepare with games scheduled for Thursday nights (until the latter stages of the competition).

Arsenal played eight matches last season after its Champions League games and mustered just 11 points from 24. Spurs played 12 matches in the Champions League last season, including two qualifiers against Young Boys.

When one considers it was Spurs’ maiden season in Europe’s elite competition, Redknapp did pretty well by guiding the club to 17 points from an available 36. It proved the club’s downfall, though, as it fell short in the race for fourth spot in the league.

Chelsea, despite a crisis that threatened to derail the club’s season, played 10 matches in the Champions League and managed to take 23 points from a possible 30, considerably better than both its London rivals.

It is this statistic that shows Chelsea will be better equipped to shift its plans mid-season to focus on a specific trophy once circumstances dictate which it will have a better chance to win.

Goals, Goals, Goals: Chelsea Score Lots of Them

There is nothing more valuable to a side than goals, and the more a squad contributes over a season, obviously the better chance the team has of maintaining success in multiple competitions.

It could be fair to say that Spurs and Arsenal have attracted more widespread plaudits for their style of football in recent years than the Blues. But if one takes a closer look at the statistics, they show that Chelsea has a vastly greater contribution from more of its squad.

They can be compared by looking at their goal scoring records throughout the past three seasons and take the leading six scorers (club football only) from the squad.

Spurs scored the least amount of goals with Jermaine Defoe (46), Peter Crouch (40), Roman Pavlyuchenko (38), Van der Vaart (27), Bale (14) and Modric (12), totaling 177 goals in the past three seasons.

Arsenal better that with Robin Van Persie (52), Marouane Chamakh (40), new signing Gervinho (39), Nicklas Bendtner (36), Cesc Fábregas (31) and Andrei Arshavin (28), providing 226 goals over the same time.

Chelsea outweighs both rivals massively in the goal-scoring stakes, which perhaps suggests it deserves a good deal more praise for its style than it seems to get from the press and other fans. Drogba (64), Lampard (60), Anelka (56), Torres (49), Malouda (38) and Salomon Kalou (35) combined for a mammoth 302 goals over the last three seasons.

When one factors in that during that period the Blues had four managers and regular bouts of in-house turmoil, it makes it even more remarkable that the side was able to maintain such consistency.

This will clearly be a factor once more in the new season with Sturridge and Benayoun hopeful of contributing a full season to the Blues, which will surely result in at least double figures in goals for both players.

Chelsea Is More Likely Than Arsenal or Spurs to Overcome Adversity

No matter how great the quality of a side, there always comes a time in the season when certain players require extra motivation.

This can be from the coach or manager, but to really cope with setbacks and moments of adversity the side tends to possess several leaders with superior experience to the rest who can raise the team when it is down.

No doubt Chelsea has considerably more leaders and characters who possess that mental toughness champions are born with, more so than Arsenal and Spurs anyway.

Arsenal showed signs of fragility last year as its season unraveled after the bizarre League Cup defeat to Birmingham City. Spurs’ season petered out after being outclassed by Real Madrid and it felt as if the team had almost given up when Manchester City claimed the fourth spot.

Chelsea, on the other hand, came out of its crisis over the Winter and mounted an admirable effort, eventually in vein, to defend its Premier League title. In fact it was just one result, away to Manchester United, from holding its own fate.

Chelsea possesses six players who have captained their country, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Yossi Benayoun, Didier Drogba, and Florent Malouda. Not to mention over 400 international caps coming from other regulars Fernando Torres (85), Nicolas Anelka (68), Petr Cech (81), Ashley Cole (89) and Branislav Ivanovic (40).

There is no doubt that this Chelsea side will confront any situation next season and be capable of coming through it. This cannot be said for Arsenal and Spurs, who despite possessing a large squad seems prone to a collapse during the most pressured moments of the season.

The Luxury of Investment in January with Abramovich's Cheque Book

If Spurs or Arsenal are able to trump Chelsea next season then they will not only have to overcome the factors mentioned above, but will also know that should things be faltering for the Blues then Roman Abramovich might wish to instigate a quick fix in the January transfer market.

The Russian owner not only provides greater funds for player investment, in terms of fees and wages, than both his London rivals but is unafraid to sanction big decisions elsewhere to ensure the club challenges for the title at least. Evidence of this was the sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari halfway through the 2008-09 season.

Since Abramovich took over the club, Chelsea has only been outside the top two once in eight years.

January 2011 was a prime example of the lack of patience by the owner as Chelsea slipped to fifth place at one point and potentially faced a season away from the Champions League.

Abramovich instantly splashed £72m ($116m) on two players, Fernando Torres and David Luíz.

In summary everything points to Chelsea dominating its London rivals once more, but Andre Villas-Boas will be aiming for more than that as he attempts to wrestle the Premier League trophy back to the capital.

Follow @jackalexandros on Twitter.