With nine games left to go in this season (ten in Chelsea FC’s case), the old adage of finishing strongly has shown its head once again. After a poor recent run of results, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea FC will need to regroup and rally to ensure that the title that is clearly there for West London’s taking is not donated to charity come the end of May. Mourinho knows that most likely his job will depend on it.
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In the last six Premier League games, Chelsea have a win percentage of only 50% matching the record of lower positioned clubs like Crystal Palace and West Brom. Yes, they have been unbeaten but that by no means takes away from a dropped six points. Furthermore, extending the analysis to ten games shows the same win percentage with another draw and a loss. That’s nineteen points from a possible thirty; hardly title winning material is it?
Looking at the three draws in the last six, it is hard to find excuses for all of them. The result against Man City towards the end of January (1-1 at Stamford Bridge) could be seen as a decent one given the opposition, but a draw at home to Burnley is inexcusable. What about this past Sunday against Southampton?
Well yes Southampton are a good team but a title winning side should be at the very least scrapping their way to victory, especially at home. Additionally, a triumph over Everton required Willian to pop up with the goods mere seconds from full time. In general Chelsea FC have only managed to score more than one goal once over this period with this coming against a pre-Tim Sherwood Aston Villa.
Meanwhile, if we were to factor in all competitions it would not make for much better reading. The two draws against Paris Saint Germain get dragged back to the forefront of a supporter’s mind while the Capital One Cup win is also included. The latter being probably the only convincing performance from the boys in blue since February came knocking.
Nineteen points from a possible thirty; hardly title winning material is it?
However, having said all this, we must mention some other factors that might show this up as scaremongering. Before this six game run, Chelsea’s lead atop the Barclays Premier League was five points. Fast forward to today and the lead is six points with a game in hand (said game in hand technically being against Leicester City).
The described situation sums up what the Premier League has been both this season and frankly over the last few: terrible. Despite how poor Chelsea have been they have managed to extend their lead by a potential four points. Man City, far from capitalising, have dropped two more points over their last six and fifteen over their last ten meetings! That’s half of what was there for the taking. The shocking form of City (and to a certain extent perennial title challengers Man Utd) have let Chelsea off the hook in a big way. It must be the case, though, that this sort of luck cannot last forever.
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When the run-ins are considered as well, the potential danger becomes evident. Chelsea FC have three huge games against Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool alongside the seemingly consistent banana-skin in QPR. City, on the other hand, have difficult but certainly more low key match-ups against Man Utd, Spurs and Southampton. With an odds-on exit from the Champions League forthcoming, like Chelsea FC they will have little distractions as they simultaneously reach for the summit and hold off the top four contenders.
Chelsea have ridden a lot of luck since the turn of the year. They have gone from being certain Premier League winners due to the sublime nature of their football to being certain Premier League winners due to the abject failings of any viable competition.
Mourinho, the club and the fans can complain all they want about questionable refereeing decisions and some ‘campaign’ against them, but they have been consistently bailed out by poor showings from the teams around them. Having been knocked out of the Champions League there should be little else on the club’s mind going forward and hence no excuse not to close out the season in irresistibly strong fashion.