6th April 2015 will be perceived as the day when Chelsea consolidated their hold on the Barclays Premier League, but more importantly it will be seen as the day when Manchester City lost the title to their deeper blue counterparts. On one hand Chelsea had to overcome a stringent test posed by a resilient Stoke City at home, which made the Crystal Palace and City game a must win for the citizens.
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Selhurst Park is not a very happy hunting ground for many of the top clubs in the league. With the Palace fans being one of the best in the league, their loud voice serves as an immense support to the Palace players on the pitch while on the other hand it instils a sense of nervousness in the hearts of the opposition team. Such an atmosphere makes Selhurst Park one of the most difficult grounds to play on.
City’s form has been not at all flattering of late winning 3 and losing 2 in the previous 5 fixtures prior to the Palace game. One of the main reasons of City’s demise in form at the end of the season is because of Pellegrini’s stubbornness in his tactical formation coupled with injuries to important players when they were needed the most.
Pellegrini seems to be running out ideas or as I think he never had any plan B for his extremely talented City squad. His 4-4-2 formation with two strikers in the final third seems to be the only tactics no matter what the circumstance. That is the reason I guess they have been hoarding all the strikers. His only tactical change is replacing one striker with another hoping for one of them to fire on all cylinders and take the team through.
Pellegrini’s team seems to rely on individuals such a David Silva, Yaya Toure and most importantly Sergio Aguero to pull them through in each and every match. This was evident when Toure was away for the African Cup of Nations and back home in Manchester it was as if the backbone of the whole team disappeared.
The bad news for City is that their slump has come at a time when their direct rivals Arsenal and Manchester United are finding the form of their lives. Arsenal especially is playing like a team possessed. Arsene Wenger seems to have found a winning formula in his team, and players like Ozil who was the laughing stock on many occasions due to his miserable performances, seems to be finally finding his feet at the right time. The Gunner’s 4-1 win over Liverpool is one of the finest Arsenal performances I have seen in a long time.
Also, Van Gaal in the red heart of Manchester, has found way to inculcate all his attacking players in a particular formation which are paying dividends at the right time. City’s slump in form and United’s resurgence at this particular point of time makes next week’s Manchester Derby a treat to watch. And also, with no disrespect to United and their fans, it will be after a long time where Manchester United will probably go in favourites in a derby.
The loss at Crystal Palace heavily dented City’s hopes of retaining their title. They are now in 4th position with 61 points from 31 games. But they are hopefully safe from going of the top 4 as Liverpool are 7 points behind them. City found themselves at par with Chelsea at the top of the league at the beginning of 2015, but saw themselves go down the pecking order where they surrendered leads due to maybe complacency in some circumstances, but more importantly due to their main players suffering injuries at crucial times.
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But Pellegrini must also take some of the blame because he is blessed with one of the best teams in England and has an incredible depth. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to inculcate all the players into the team. If some of the crucial first team players don’t play, then the whole team seems to be out of order.
Vincent Kompany’s form has been alarming and is also one of the main reasons for City’s current demise in form. He has been one of the best signings for City and is the stalwart in the City defence. Whole of the City team looks up to him for leadership and a calmness he brings into the team when in difficult circumstances. But recently, he was going through a niggling injury and after he came back fit he wasn’t the same player. Making last ditch challenges resulting in penalties and free kicks, bad positioning has marred his performances which are also resulting in the destabilization of the whole team.
The league table favours Chelsea to a large extent. The Blues are top of the league with a 7 point lead over a resurgent Arsenal and with a game in hand. Now they need only 5 wins and a draw from the remaining fixtures and then we can think on that post Premier League winners tour. Then Jose Mourinho and us Chelsea fans will have a lot to smile about.
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