Chelsea had just endured their worst ever Premier League season, but Eddie Howe was not about to gloat as the Newcastle United boss warned that those sides who 'did not have the season they wanted will come back fighting'. At the forefront of his mind was an expensively-assembled Chelsea outfit under the management of Mauricio Pochettino.
"Next season they will be a big threat," he told reporters in his final pre-match press conference of the campaign last month. "They have got top quality players - that's undoubted - but trying to form a team very quickly with a lot of new players is very difficult to do.
"That has probably been their biggest challenge but, next year, a lot of those players will now have Premier League experience. They will have adjusted to the league and they will be a big threat."
