Can Chelsea recover to make it a three-horse race

A crazy Sunday of football has meant the bookmakers have changed their odds of who will win the Premier League.

Manchester United were favourites but have been leapfrogged by Manchester City following their 6-1 loss at home to their rivals.

Before the game everyone had built it up as a fixture that will go a long way to decide where the title will go, despite the fact we are not even in November yet. However, Chelsea had quietly crept up on United before last weekend’s action with only a point separating the two teams.

They had a chance to move above United, into second place, but blew it thanks to indiscipline and poor refereeing decisions. A west London derby against QPR did not look the most difficult task but they failed to take advantage.

Andre Villas-Boas’ side were hard done by. Referee Chris Foy awarded QPR a debatable penalty, wrongly sent off Jose Bosingwa and then failed to give the Blues a penalty of their own – even if they were as soft as the one Foy gave to the home side.

Didier Drogba was also shown a red card after a disgusting tackle on Adel Taarabt with just 41 minutes on the clock. That meant Villas-Boas had to change his entire game plan by half-time, with the Portuguese manager having to replace Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge by the start of the second half.

Even though Chelsea suffered their second league defeat of the season, they still should not be written off.

They have had quite a few problems this season with a mixture of poor form, injuries and indiscipline affecting their league position. When they can eradicate those difficulties they will surely start to pick up points.

Chelsea’s only other defeat was extremely unlucky. They dominated possession at Old Trafford but just could not convert their chances. A certain Fernando Torres miss springs to mind. If the Blues had beaten United and QPR they would be on the same amount of points as Manchester City.

Villas-Boas has to find the right combination in attack. Juan Mata has established himself as a first-team regular in Chelsea’s front three but the other two positions are not so clear. Villas-Boas has to decide who out of Drogba, Sturridge, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda should fill the other two voids.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City all have to travel to Stamford Bridge before the start of the New Year. That will give Chelsea a big chance to prove their doubters wrong and most importantly pick up the points to challenge the two Manchester teams.

Another problem for Chelsea will be the African Cup of Nations. They are likely to lose Drogba, Kalou and maybe even Michael Essien – who is still recovering from a serious knee injury he sustained in July.

Both teams in Manchester will surely drop plenty of points between now and the end of the season, even if City continues to strengthen in the January transfer window.  So for now Chelsea fans have nothing to worry about. They will surely challenge in all competitions once Villas-Boas has his whole squad to choose from.

Anthony Hay

Comments

[most_people_on_forums]

what do you mean chelsea is question here?
man utd might or might not join chelsea & man city in a three horse race, this is how things stand!!

man utd does not have the players!

[Alan Frank]

I said at the beginning of the season that City would win the Premiership this year and I thought we would come third behind United in what would prove to be a 'transitional' season for us. Although I still believe that the City squad will be too strong for anyone else to compete with I am now not so sure that we wont be able to take United and pip them to second spot?
Over the last few seasons it always seems that when United drop points and Chelsea have the opportunity to either catch them up or over take them in the table we blow it! It is so annoying but has almost become expected.
I really like AVB as a Manager but seemingly unlike most people I think he has flaws. He has improved the present team and our overall play but he has also cost us some results this season. I wont go into the tactical naivities for the Stoke, United or Valencia games as that would make this article too long but lets just take the last game against QPR as an example.
We as fans all knew, just as the senior players knew that this was going to be Rangers 'Cup' final. We all know that Loftus Road is a small ground with a small pitch. We all know what Warnock is like as a Manager and how he would set his team up with 4 across the back and a terrior like 5 in midfield led by chief hatchet man Joey Barton. This lot couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag and after their recent 6 nil shagging by our neighbours Fulham, prior to the match, very average players like Kenny, Fitz Hall, Anton Ferdinand, Luke Young and the rest of the bunch would have been happy just keeping the score line down. They went out with a game plan to stop Chelsea playing as best they could and to 'spoil' the match in doing so. Diving and all the theatricals were the order of the day for the players from their Management. The average West London granny could have guessed this prior to kick off! What does AVB do to combat this inevitability? NOTHING! He sticks to his 4 3 3 formation and picks Drogba (who I personally think he is afraid of) even though the Ivorian is showing NO form at the moment. If ever there was a time and case for starting this game with 5 in midfield and one striker this was it. Chelsea needed to start the match and gain the upper hand in midfield whilst keeping it tight across the back. We would have created chances going forward from midfield and I dare say been a couple of goals up by half time.
The point is, this Chelsea squad is in transition. We need Torres to settle down and get back to his best form regularly for us. We need Danial Sturridge to keep improving and for him to remember that a game lasts for 90 minutes and he IS ALLOWED to score more than one goal per game. We still desperately need a creative midfielder to help the highly effective Juan Mata out and give us far more options.
Looking at City's team and bench reminds me of Chelsea some seasons ago. They are going to take some stopping but there again we all know it is a very long season and with all of the Cup comps as a distraction, luck and experience also comes into play. Unless we are still within 5 points of them come January AND we buy at least ONE top drawer quality attacking midfielder in that market I still think the title is theirs for THIS season. United and second spot on the other hand is certainly within our capabilities. KTBFFH