Antontio Conte insists he will never take winning the Premier League with Chelsea for granted because he is still haunted by all the times he just missed out on silverware.
Conte won 10 major trophies during his career as a player with Juventus and led them to three championships in a row as their manager.
But the 47-year-old also had numerous near misses, including losing three Champions League finals plus a World Cup and European Championships final with Italy.
One of his most painful though was when Juventus threw away an eight-point lead in the 1999-00 campaign to lose the Scudettp to Lazio on the final day of the Serie A season.
It is why he is still not getting too excited by his Chelsea side boasting a nine-point lead now.
"About this situation, I have a great experience, not only as as manager but as a player," he said. "When you play 13 years at Juventus, you have a lot of these situations.
"I won five (league) titles as a footballer, but a lot of times I arrived in second place and I think when you arrive in second place, it's not good. People remember only those who win.
"Do I remember the second places more? Yes, but I can talk with you and bring a lot of examples with the national team. I lost two finals - World Cup and European Championships.
"And you must know that my anger in every game, the will to fight, the will to win, is because I know in my career, I am lucky to win a lot, but I lost a lot."
Thinking back to that Juventus slump 17 years ago, where they lost four of their last eight matches to gift the trophy to Lazio, Conte revealed they made a crucial error mentally.
When pressed whether they lost the lead due to psychological reasons and if Chelsea must avoid the same mistake now, he replied: "Yes. When you arrive at this point, you think that everything is simple, but it's not true.
"You can see in the previous games, Swansea beat Liverpool, and Watford beat Arsenal, a lot of examples. For this reason, we must pay great attention, prepare for every game with great attention."
It will still be a major shock though if Chelsea slip-up from here and don't win their fifth Premier League in 13 years.
Conversely, Arsenal, who last finished top in 2004, look set to miss out again after falling 12 points behind their London rivals.
Conte admits he doesn't understand why Arsene Wenger's drought has lasted so long at Emirates Stadium and added: "I think Arsenal has all the potential to win the title, honestly.
"If you look at their squad, you can see a lot of young players with great quality, physically very strong, and also a good manager.
"Is something missing? Yes, but I think now and in the future, to win the title, this league, it will be very tough for lots of the teams."
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Chelsea | 24 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 34 | 59 |
| 2 | Tottenham | 24 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 30 | 50 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 24 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 49 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 47 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 24 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 22 | 46 |
| 6 | Man United | 24 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 45 |
| 7 | Everton | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 40 |
| 8 | West Brom | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 36 |
| 9 | West Ham | 24 | 9 | 4 | 11 | -9 | 31 |
| 10 | Watford | 24 | 8 | 6 | 10 | -11 | 30 |
| 11 | Stoke City | 24 | 7 | 8 | 9 | -7 | 29 |
| 12 | Burnley | 24 | 9 | 2 | 13 | -9 | 29 |
| 13 | Southampton | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | -7 | 27 |
| 14 | Bournemouth | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | -12 | 26 |
| 15 | Middlesbrough | 24 | 4 | 9 | 11 | -8 | 21 |
| 16 | Leicester City | 24 | 5 | 6 | 13 | -17 | 21 |
| 17 | Swansea City | 24 | 6 | 3 | 15 | -25 | 21 |
| 18 | Hull City | 24 | 5 | 5 | 14 | -25 | 20 |
| 19 | Crystal Palace | 24 | 5 | 5 | 15 | -13 | 19 |
| 20 | Sunderland | 24 | 5 | 4 | 15 | -18 | 19 |