You Bet | Lack of rotation puts title rivals in a spin as Antonio Conte’s Chelsea close in on Premier League trophy

In these days of squad rotation, one of the key factors in Chelsea’s title surge in the English Premier League has an old-fashioned twist: Antonio Conte’s ability to put his best players on the pitch week in, week out.

The importance of that element to Chelsea’s success was emphasised last weekend when Victor Moses, who has played a crucial if largely unheralded role in his rebirth as right wingback, was absent from the Premier League starting team for the first time since the end of September.

With the breakup of Conte’s trusted back six - Thibaut Courtois, Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso and Moses - Chelsea lost 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace.

That was not the only factor, and Chelsea quickly went and beat Manchester City 2-1 in their midweek home match without Moses, but Conte has been more fortunate than other managers in being able to field a settled side for most of the season.

To give two examples, Tottenham Hotspur are currently having to cope without top striker Harry Kane for a second injury spell this season, while Liverpool’s talisman Sadio Mane was a key absentee during their January slump.

Perhaps even more significantly, and in stark contrast to Chelsea’s settled back six, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has been able to field his top-class central defensive partnership of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld in just 17 of their 30 league games.