Chelsea have made an excellent start to the season, and as a result, find themselves in 1st place.

New manager Antonio Conte has managed to implement his style of play quickly, and to great effect. The Italian took a few weeks to settle on his preferred formation of 3-4-3, but since then their form has been remarkable, winning all eight of their Premier League games, most recently an impressive win over title rivals Man City, having been 1-0 down.

Conte has brought passion back into a Chelsea side who looked quite frankly soulless last term.

But the Blues shouldn’t rest on their laurels just yet, there’s a long way to go in the title race and much can change. Looking at their side it’s difficult to find a glaring weakness, but if you asked Shoot! to pick one position in which an extra quality player could make all the difference to this Chelsea side, it’d be striker.

With that said here’s THREE reasons why Chelsea must sign a striker this January.

Need a top-drawer Costa replacement

Chelsea signed Michy Batshuayi in the summer, but he’s a very raw, young striker, who is adapting to life in England. The Belgian doesn’t really look ready to make a significant contribution to a title-winning campaign. It’s plain to see that when Diego Costa doesn’t play, Chelsea look much less of a threat.

The Spaniard is in great form at the moment, but what if he drops off or gets injured? Do Chelsea have enough to keep up the relentless pace needed to win the Premier League?

It’s difficult to say, but a top-class, experienced, alternative to Costa would certainly aid in his absence, and could cause double the trouble for the opposition if they were paired together.

The formation change will mean chances are more limited

In the long-run Chelsea’s formation change from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-3 has made them more solid, but is likely to have an impact on the number of chances they create in a game.

Although it’s working out now, replacing a creative attacking midfielder with a centre back is likely to mean chances are more limited. Chelsea will have to ensure they remain as clinical as they have been in front of goal.

An extra striker will keep their options at the sharp end of the pitch fresh until the end of the season, helping them to stay fit and maintain their current performance levels. This is very important, as Costa has been known to pick up injuries more regularly during the second half of the campaign.

They’ve got a great chance to reclaim their title back – they need to take it

Last season would have hurt Chelsea, there’s no doubt about it, the players, the fans, everybody. Slipping from 1st way down to 10th (even with a strong finish) is not what the club would have had in mind going into last season.

Having worked so hard to prove themselves again, and with Conte and Kante adding new energy to the team in two different ways, they are back at the top of English football in double quick time.

Now they simply have to take advantage – signing a striker could be the difference between runner-up and champion come what May.