Jose Mourinho devoted his speech at Chelsea's end of season awards to the idea that his side were not given enough credit for their achievements this season because their brand of football was considered 'boring'.
He mocked Manchester United for dominating possession yet losing and Arsenal for scoring beautiful goals but ultimately failing to win enough games.
Mourinho was typically antagonistic but made a salient point – whatever your opinion on the way they did it; that Chelsea were the best team in the Premier League this season is indisputable. They won the title at a canter, rarely seriously threatened and had the trophy all but sewn up by March.
Here, Sportsmail considers whether there is anything the chasing pack can do to prevent a repeat performance next season.
Manchester City
What went wrong this season? They seemed to lack the big personalities in the dressing room to cope with the pressure of being champions. Ran Chelsea close around Christmas but lost a lot of ground with a run of just five wins in 14 games in the new year and hopes of defending the title ebbed away.
What comes next? Owner Sheikh Mansour is unlikely to tolerate another second place finish from manager Manuel Pellegrini, who will have more freedom in the summer transfer window this time round with fewer Financial Fair Play restrictions to contend with.
Who have they been linked with? They are reportedly in hot pursuit of Liverpool's Raheem Sterling and are prepared to offer Edin Dzeko as a makeweight. But City are set to be thwarted in their attempts to sign the immensely talented Paul Pogba from Juventus. The midfielder is said to favour a move to Spain.
Will they close the gap? With the squad they already have and the pot of money at their disposal City are best placed of the chasing pack to topple Chelsea.
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