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Reasons why Chelsea can win the Premier League this season

By Ashish Thomas

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 23: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City gives his team instructions as Frank Lampard, Manager of Chelsea looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium on November 23, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 23: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City gives his team instructions as Frank Lampard, Manager of Chelsea looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium on November 23, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 23: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City gives his team instructions as Frank Lampard, Manager of Chelsea looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium on November 23, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 23: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City gives his team instructions as Frank Lampard, Manager of Chelsea looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea FC at Etihad Stadium on November 23, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

Chelsea’s amalgamation of Liverpool and Manchester City’s tactical styles could see the Blues end the season with the Premier League title.

Over the past three seasons, we’ve seen domination by two teams in England: Liverpool and Manchester City. These two clubs have won the title with points tallies of 100, 98 and 99 in that respective order. However, this season represents a chance for any other team to stake a claim for the Premier League title, especially Chelsea. Here’s some reasons why the Blues can win the league in 2020/21:

1. Man City and Liverpool could struggle this season

Before we get into why the Blues could succeed, we need to discuss why the two aforementioned teams could have down seasons. Man City ended last year with a bit of a whimper—finishing 18 points behind deserved champion Liverpool—exiting from the Champions League at the Quarterfinal stage to underdogs Olympique Lyon. The Citizens also lost to Arsenal in the semifinals of the FA Cup, but did manage to win the Carabao Cup to avoid a trophy-less campaign.

These problems can be pinned solely to the terrible state of City’s defense. For starters, the Citizens don’t have a regular left back due to injuries and right now are playing Joao Cancelo, who is a right back by trade. Though they have brought in Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake over the summer, are those centrebacks enough to push the needle much? Ederson has also shown a propensity to make errors. Add to this the fact that their attack is not firing at all, leading them to being a very dull watch at the moment. Man City is creating even lesser chances than usual and its xG per game is amounting to just 1.34 compared to 2.5 last season.

It also seems that Pep Guardiola has reached the end of his cycle in Manchester and this is the last year of his contract there. His lack of European progression could also be in the back of his mind going forward. For those reasons, City could struggle.

Liverpool, on the other hand, has been beset by injuries over the course of this campaign. The luck the Reds have had with injuries over the past couple of seasons has come home to roost for them. At the time of writing, they could be without their entire first choice back four for the upcoming game against Leicester City.

Even when fit though, their defense hasn’t been on par with their performance over prior seasons. They have conceded 16 goals, which ranks only behind West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United for worst in the Premier League. Seven of those goals came in one game, but makes for worrying reading regardless. The fact of the matter is, Liverpool is conceding more shots on goal compared to last season. Will these injuries to key defensive personnel price to be their breaking point?

Now back to Chelsea. Though the Blues lie in fifth on 15 points, they are only three points behind surprise leader of the pack, Leicester. The Blues have suffered just the one loss in the entire season across all the competitions, a loss which came against defending champions Liverpool, which is not shabby for a team which was down to 10 men. Point being, Chelsea is already on par with the two recent powerhouse clubs.

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