Chelsea have been rampant this season, as they lead the Premier League table by a comfortable cushion.

N’Golo Kante has been an essential addition to the squad, while the return in the form of Eden Hazard and Diego Costa has also helped them.

However, one defender hasn’t gotten enough plaudit he deserves, Cesar Azpilicueta.

He has been a consistent performer for Chelsea. He was one of the few players to not come under criticism last season.

His introduction to the team, however, hasn’t been straightforward. He struggled to get into the Chelsea line-up when he initially joined The Blues.

But as soon as he was looking more comfortable, his place came under scrutiny after the return of manager Jose Mourinho.

Now under the influence of Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge, Shoot! look at why the Spaniard is Chelsea’s unsung hero as they march towards the 2016-17 Premier League title…

Hard worker

The former Osasuna defender  worked hard and earned his place in Jose’s team as a left-back, a position which was pristine for him.

Mourinho was a huge admirer of Azpilicueta, he even went as far as to say, “I will win Champions League with 11 Azpilicuetas.”

For younger players, Azpilicueta is a role model for his work ethic and hard training regime. He is first to arrive in the training pitch and the last to leave. It’s no wonder even Chelsea’s new coach Conte was impressed with the player’s dedication.

The Italian boss arrived at Cobham with an aim to play ‘Dave’ as a left-back in his 4-3-3 formation for The Blues.

However, after two huge setbacks successively against Liverpool and Arsenal, Conte resorted to playing three at the back.

The trickiest thing for the Italian manager was to find the third central defender – with doubts over John Terry’s suitability to a back three.

Against all the odds, his choice of a right side centre-back was a certain Spaniard.

Unique role

Centre-back is an entirely different position to the Spanish International. He isn’t one to complain, but even he admits he doubted his ability in the new role. He said, “At the beginning, it was a bit strange. Most of us needed help playing in that system.”

But if the past has taught us anything, Azpilicueta isn’t a kind of player that recedes from new challenges.

The defender has excelled in his new position, so much so to convince Conte to label the Spaniard as “the best in his position”.

He has unique roles in Conte’s system. The defender has more responsibilities than to just cover his half spaces and defend.

The 27-year-old forms a diamond with other three players in his side – Kante, Pedro and Victor Moses. This dynamic shape offers the holder of the ball several options to pass, from side passing to Azpilicueta, to forward in-line moves.

Meanwhile, in Conte’s 3-4-3 system, it is essential for a centre-back to circulate the ball forward and surge forward with runs with precise timings, along with covering the half spaces left by the wing-backs, who push forward.

The timing of these runs is essential. The versatile defender’s attacking runs, along with Gary Cahill to the left, allows Chelsea to build an encouraging attacking momentum and active circulation.

The defender has two options as he circulates the ball – either provide the ball to the wing-back Moses, or spread it to the attacking three.

This tiny little detail is, however, necessary for Chelsea to avoid any immediate exposure to counter attacks.

Chelsea’s central midfielders, Kante and Nemanja Matic, as robust as they might be, need time to switch back to fill the half spaces left.

As a consequence of this, the support the wing-backs get is sparse. So typically, a side back is reluctant to pass the ball to the wing-back, which only goes on to prove the need for proper awareness from Azpilicueta.

The Spaniard is a testament to this need as he controls the tempo of his forward runs, which allows the midfielders enough time and space to be available for the support.

A few flaws

As good a player as Azpilicueta is, he is not free of shortcomings.

Tottenham exposed a particular deficiency in his role as a centre-back, his height.

Spurs’ star midfielder, Dele Alli, used his height advantage over the former Marseille defender to his advantage and ended Chelsea’s winning run.

Height certainly isn’t something Cesar can change. However, he compensates it with his intelligence in defensive situations.

A key to Chelsea success

Azpilicueta’s excellent adaptation to his new role, along with solid performances from other defenders, has helped Chelsea earn 13 clean sheets as they surge their title charge forward.

The Spain international doesn’t attract a million quid offer from China, neither does he have a huge merchandise value as his compatriot Hazard.

However, with his hard work and dependability, he comes first in any Chelsea manager’s choice for a starting line-up.