Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has revealed the reason behind the club's record winning streak.
Boxing Day's 3-0 win over Bournemouth was the Blues' 12th consecutive win in the Premier League, a streak which pales in comparison to last season's troubles for Chelsea, who were in danger of slipping into a relegation fight after then manager Jose Mourinho's dismissal.
Speaking to theDaily Star, Courtois revealed the fear of another season of failure has helped spur the team on this campaign.
We knew that maybe our mentality was not right in those two games we lost against Liverpool and Arsenal.
They were tough games and we didn't have the same intensity as Arsenal or Liverpool. If you don't put the same intensity in as the other side, you will not win that kind of game.
So that's why we talked as a team about making a step up at that point, because we didn't want to have the same season as last year. We needed to step up and that's what we did.
Obviously with the current run of wins of course we would say we are doing maybe better than expected after a bad season last year."
Courtois' form this season has played an integral part in Chelsea's rise to the top of the Premier League, with the Belgian conceding just 11 goals in 18 league games. The 24-year-old has also claimed his side's defensive record gives the whole team confidence.
We are top of the league with more points than we had after this many games when we were champions two years ago.
Great win on Boxing Day! ðŸ'ŒðŸ�»ðŸ’¥âš½ï¸� #CFC pic.twitter.com/vMdSR85w6R
So that says we are doing well but we have to keep on working hard and fighting a lot against the teams who defend more and are hard to break down. We will try to do our best and keep the run going.�
If you can win games and keep clean sheets it gives confidence to all the team and to the goalkeeper especially.