After an impressive win, Chelsea are edging closer to becoming champions. But as we learnt from other sporting events, there’s no room for complacency.
Sitting at the top of the table, nine points clear of second-placed Tottenham, Chelsea look like they are closing in on another Premier League title. Facing a daunting two-game stand against top 6 rivals in Arsenal and Liverpool last week, Antonio Conte’s men came through unscathed. A satisfying draw at Anfield, which could have easily turned into a win had Diego Costa slotted home his penalty miss, and a convincing 3-1 win over the Gunners have seen Chelsea create even more distance between themselves and the chasing pack.
The title race is still not over, however. The last year in sport has been absurd. Teams like the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, MLB’s Cleveland Indians and most recently, the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL have all blown their chances of success by becoming too comfortable with the leads they had built.
The Warriors and Indians only needed 1 win from a remaining 3 matches to claim their respective prizes, while the Falcons blew a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl in arguably the biggest “choke” in modern sporting times. Chelsea would be wise to take note from the crumbling of the seemingly invincible.
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Every sport is different, of course. But the way in which a team can become complacent over their seemingly insurmountable lead has become obvious in the last year. For Chelsea, their hard work in getting to this point would be undone if they were to take their foot off the pedal.
Fixtures against Manchester City and bogey-team Southampton still await them, while trips to Burnley, Everton, West Brom, Manchester United and Bournemouth are also left on the schedule. All five teams hold a top-10 home record. Their nearest challengers do have difficult matches left, but Chelsea only need to focus on themselves to see their title challenge through.
The biggest test was supposed to have come last week, with games against Liverpool and Arsenal expected to blow the title race wide open. What happened was the exact opposite.
Chelsea picked up four points while Spurs dropped points at struggling Sunderland. Arsene Wenger’s men lost twice and Liverpool dropped a clanger at Hull. Neither side took advantage of Chelsea dropping two points in their draw at Anfield, as the gap between 1st and 2nd increased by a point thanks to Liverpool and Arsenal’s shocking defeats.
It’s led to many proclaiming the Blues as the champions-elect. For Conte and his players, they’ll know to hold off on the champagne until May. Following the win at the weekend, you could see the focus and concentration levels weren’t dropping. There were handshakes, and congratulatory hugs, but it was kept to a minimum as the players know there’s still 14 other matches to play before any trophy is raised.
It’s getting closer, but as many other teams have learnt in the past year, close isn’t good enough.