Michael Essien has admitted that he sees a resemblance in the current Chelsea team to the one which he helped to the Premier League title in 2005-06.
The Ghanaian midfielder marked his first season in England, following a £24m move from Lyon, with silverware as the Blues romped away with the championship.
Essien feels that Jose Mourinho's latest side, which has lost just one of 23 matches in all competitions this campaign, is similar in many ways and will go on to deliver lots of trophies to Stamford Bridge.
"It's not a big surprise they are doing so well," he told BBC Sport. "Whoever works under Jose will tell you that he is the sort of man who always gets the best out of his players.
"The way they are playing now reminds me of when I first came to Chelsea. We were very hard to beat and we won most of our games and they are doing it this year.
"They have a lot of young players who can step up. I think they are going to become like Chelsea of years ago. And they will win trophies for their club."
Chelsea are three points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table ahead of the visit of Hull City on Saturday, and Essien, who is now playing at AC Milan, feels that they will be "very difficult" to catch.
Joe Fish
