Did Chelsea's breaches really impact the 2016-17 title?

[Getty Images] Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea should be stripped of the Premier League title for 2016-17, when his Tottenham team finished runners-up. This is about Chelsea making £47m in secret payments, according to a Premier League investigation, to unregistered agents and third parties to seal transfers between 2011 and 2018. The transfers included Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic. Four of those - Hazard, Willian, Luiz and Matic - were at the club in 2016-17. During that period Chelsea won two Premier League titles (2014-15 and 2016-17), two FA Cups (2011-12 and 2017-18), the EFL Cup (2014-15) and the Europa League (2018–19). Chelsea have been fined by Uefa, the Premier League and the Football Association, but Pochettino thinks that is not enough . "If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team," Pochettino said. Tottenham were relentless at the end of the 2016-17 season, winning 12 of their final 13 matches to finish on 86 points. Yet Antonio Conte's Chelsea were almost as relentless, winning 11 of their last 13 to take the title with 93 points. Spurs' tally would have been enough for the title in 2015-16, when Leicester finished on 81. However, since 1999-2000, when Manchester United were champions on 79 points, 86 points would only have won the title twice, including the two most recent seasons. Tottenham's problem in 2016-17 was too many draws at the start of the campaign. Despite an unbeaten 11-game start, only five of those were victories. Chelsea lost more matches - five to Spurs' four - but secured 30 wins to Tottenham's 26. Pochettino might argue that the attacking influence from Willian and Hazard proved the difference, with those two players having attacking contributions in eight different matches which led to points. Then there is the mere aspect of sporting advantage - how the signings of players like Hazard enabled Chelsea to win trophies, qualify for the Champions League and therefore attract more top talent. Read more about the debate here