CHELSEA slipped further off the race towards the Premiership title this season with this morning’s 0-0 draw against Everton.
The Blues are still third in the league table right now, but are now six points off leaders Manchester United, who still have a game in hand.
Chelsea have to win all their remaining games, while hoping that United lose at least two games, and Liverpool to lose at least once, provided the Blues improve their goal difference dramatically in their upcoming games.
The London club now have five games left to play, with the London derby with Arsenal on 10 May one to note, especially after how the Gunners managed a 4-4 draw with Liverpool at Anfield yesterday morning.
Despite the magic touch of Dutch guru Guus Hiddink, are Chelsea’s title hopes dashed this season?
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Even before the golden Guus came to Chelsea, they were fighting a losing battle. Hiddink’s arrival merely add a good feel to the whole atmosphere at Stamford Bridge but realistically, their chances were slimmer than Liverpool’s.
Though they may have lost the premier league title chance, i do believe Chelsea can win a cup or two. I always thought of Guus Hiddink as a great motivator in short burst, meaning teams he have managed always seemed to perform well in cup competition.
I dont Barcelona will be have it easy in the champions league.
Comment by charles cheng — April 23, 2009 @ 11:28 am
It’s time for my beloved Chelsea to forget about the Premiership. Focus on the battle against Barcelona and the FA Cup final against Everton.
Chelsea have a strong squad. Players like Terry, Carvalho, Lampard, Cech, Essien and Drogba should not play 90 minutes week in week out.
No point going after the Premiership. You need the best players against Barcelona in the two legs and to crush Everton in the FA Cup final. And if Chelsea made it to the Champions League final, they need the best and fittest players.
If I were Hiddink, I will sacrifice the Premiership for the Champions League and the FA Cup. It’s better to lose 1 and win 2 then to lose 1 and lose 2.
Qyaerus-Syahrein, 27, Chelsea fan
Comment by Alex Hart — April 23, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
Chelsea’s title hopes have been put into question since Feb, and with 5 games remaining, it seems clear that the trophy will not end up at Stamford Bridge this season.
The latest draw against Everton has place the Blues in an unfavorable position. They are 6 points adrift league leader Man Utd, who still has a game in hand. Moreover, with a visit to Emirates Stadium still to come, it will take a miracle for them to clinch the title.
Furthermore, Chelsea is still in contention for FA Cup and Champions League glory. It would be foolish for Hiddink to linger on the dying hopes for the Premiership Crown. They should now allocate all their resources to the cup competitions. With Everton being the only obstacle left, the FA Cup is the best chance of silverware for Chelsea this season.
While the road to European glory is tough, Chelsea still holds a great chance of winning it. With the likes of Barcelona and Man Utd/Arsenal awaiting them, the Blues have no room for resting their key players. It would be crucial for them to field their best eleven if they are to secure a passage to Rome.
Chelsea is challenging on three fronts, and it is now time for them to prioritise their ambitions. The Blues clearly have no control over their fate in the title race now; therefore, I believe they will not take any risks over their key players in the domestic league. Chelsea has no choice but to give up their title hopes in order to facilitate their endeavors in the other competitions.
Comment by Suen Chun Lung — April 23, 2009 @ 1:48 pm
Chelsea’s title hopes have been put into question since Feb, and with 5 games remaining, it seems clear that the trophy will not end up at Stamford Bridge this season.
The latest draw against Everton has place the Blues in an unfavorable position. They are 6 points adrift league leader Man Utd, who still has a game in hand. Moreover, with a visit to Emirates Stadium still to come, it will take a miracle for them to clinch the title.
Furthermore, Chelsea is still in contention for FA Cup and Champions League glory. It would be foolish for Hiddink to linger on the dying hopes for the Premiership Crown. They should now allocate all their resources to the cup competitions. With Everton being the only obstacle left, the FA Cup is the best chance of silverware for Chelsea this season.
While the road to European glory is tough, Chelsea still holds a great chance of winning it. With the likes of Barcelona and Man Utd/Arsenal awaiting them, the Blues have no room for resting their key players. It would be crucial for them to field their best eleven if they are to secure a passage to Rome.
Chelsea is challenging on three fronts, and it is now time for them to prioritise their ambitions. The Blues clearly have no control over their fate in the title race now; therefore, I believe they will not take any risks over their key players in the domestic league. Chelsea has no choice but to give up their title hopes in order to facilitate their endeavors in the other competitions.
Comment by Suen Chun Lung — April 23, 2009 @ 1:48 pm
Very similar to previous seasons, Chelsea’s EPL season virtually came to a close during the busy Christmas period.
Consistency rules in a long and tiring EPL, where the pace needs to be timed, and at the same time, grinding out important narrow scoreline when the momentum is running yet.
When Liverpool beat Man Utd 4-1, both Liverpool and Chelsea fans rejoiced, espcially so for the die-hard ‘romantics’, whom proclaimed the title race is wide open again.
What is being left out of the calculations is that Man Utd, very unlike Liverpool and Chelsea, had not peaked at all during the season. A couple of bad defeats do not make a consistent team lose a league title, where long-term results matters more than a short burst of brilliance.
While Man Utd had lost 4-1 at Old Trafford, they still had 4 points and a game in hand, which they still enjoy the luxury of roating players here and there, feeling the benefits of being able to drop a couple of points here and there, even if Liverpool and Chelsea win all their remaining games.
Adrian Lim, 29, Civil Servant
Norwich City Fan
Comment by Adrian Lim — April 23, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
This is getting to be 1 of the most exciting finishing to the end of the EPL season!
Believe there are more twists & turns yet!
Rafa had already known that the Kops need to win every remaining game to keep the pressure on the Devils.
Meanwhile, the Blues drew Everton, losing the chance to draw level.
MU had the easiest of the 3 mid-week games, and moved further ahead, which they will need later.
The pressures are mounting on all 3, as well as their remaining opponents who are either trying to secure a place for European competition, or avoiding relegation.
So, there could be an interesting and complex number of permutations, and some chance of anything could still happen.
I’m rooting for Everton in the FA cup, and MU for the title and Champions league final.
Comment by Peter Loh — April 23, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
Mathematically, Chelsea still can win it. However, given the tough task of winning all the last 5 games before having a chance, Guus did the right thing to concentrate on the 2 cups competition. The league title is out of his hands now. They is aq chance which the Red devils might slip in the course of the run-in to allow some excitement to the finish. Slim chance.
Mr Elvin Woo P F
55 Civil Servant
Comment by Mr Woo P F — April 23, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
This morning’s 0-0 draw is definitely the final nail in Chelsea’s coffin as far as their chances in the title race is concerned.
The Blues only have themselves to blame as they struggled to prise open Everton’s defence. This should not have happened because Guus put out his best possible Xl while Moyes rested a few of his key players. They should face reality and do what’s best for them now.
They have ZERO chance in overcoming United in the league, so they should concentrate in the Champions League and FA Cup. By the way, they should target another Reds instead, Liverpool in this instance, because getting that second spot is far more achievable than the top spot. The good thing about that elusive runners-up spot is that the team who get it would not have to play in the qualifying round of the Champions League next season. Playing competitively so early in the season would disrupt the team’s preparation for the whole campaign and you wouldn’t know what team you would be drawn. It could be a strong team like maybe Genoa, Roma, Lyon, Sevilla or Rangers. So, getting that second spot is still rather important.
So how will Chelsea’s season pan out? Will there be any parting gift for Guus before he heads back to Russia? They would find it extremely tough against Barcelona in the Champions League. A Messi-less Barca still managed to make Sevilla look like Southampton this morning as they thrashed the league’s third-best team 4-0.
If Chelsea can concede 3 goals against Bolton and 4 against Liverpool, you definitely fear the worst for Roman’s men. I can’t see how Chelsea can score more goals than Barca in that tie. So my guess? Chelsea to lose, but of course! Trust me Chelsea’s fans out there, It’s not that I am a Man United fan that I am saying this. If United were to play Barca in the semi-final, I would also opt for the Spanish side to advance such is the strength of that team.
So that leaves Chelsea with only the FA Cup to aim for. That game on 30May would be Guus’ last for Chelsea. He would love to get a winner’s medal to cap his short time in West London. I fancy them to beat Everton although it would be tough against a gritty and determined Everton side.
How can I not talk about United? They are now within touching distance of the league title. But with a more difficult set of fixtures than Liverpool and Chelsea awaiting them including home matches against Spurs, Arsenal, Man City and tricky away clashes with Wigan and relegation-threatened Boro and Hull, they would not have everything their way.
As much as I would want to, I can’t see how United can win all their remaining fixtures. Points would be dropped along the way and the onus is on Liverpool to keep getting 3 points to stay in touch. It would be close all the way and I would not be surprised if the title race go to the last day of the season. Hopefully Hull will be safe by then or else United could find it real tough against Phil Brown’s men. Anyway, United should win their 18th title to equal Liverpool’s long-standing record.
Comment by Loh Shengli, 24, Man United — April 23, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
The title is almost in Man Utd hand but unless they go on and lose 2 games or else it will be hard for Liverpool to have any chance of winning the title while Chelsea certainly are out,their draw against Everton have blown away their hopes of winning the EPL.
Norman Ng,14,Liverpool fan
Comment by norman — April 23, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
If most of you have already write off Liverpool to win the title, what more of Chelsea? The difference is, Chelsea is still in the running in to cup competition, the FA cup and the Champions League.
With an almost guaranteed spot in the top 4, I strongly urge Chelsea to keep their heads, into the FA cup and the Champions League. With that, I’m suggesting that Chelsea could field 2nd string players league games to give them experience for the upcoming season, and resting their 1st team players for important cup games in the process.
In that case, it’s as well as killing two birds with one stone. However in this case, the ‘stone’ used is similar to another ‘bird’.
Comment by Haley Harrison — April 23, 2009 @ 11:33 pm
It is true that Chelsea will not win the premier league. It is and has been only due to their sense of pride that they continued to make talks of landing the premier league title. With Liverpool and United to overcome, they were never going to have a chance. While they can look to Tottenham and Arsenal to take points off their rivals, they too have to go up against the same teams.
Then again, with Barcelona looming and we all know where Chelsea’s priorities lie, they should take the pedal off the premier league and keep their players injury-free and in good condition. Then again, were Chelsea to win her remaining games including those that they dropped points against Tottenham and Everton, they would have closed the gap. So it is their fault that they are not being able to fulfil their part of the bargain. This is no longer the Chelsea of old which won 18 out of 19 league games at Stamford Bridge. They lack the players to go directly against defenders on the wings. It was only recently that Malouda regained his form and we saw how they managed to kill Liverpool and Arsenal when their wings are flying. Maybe the only way to stop Barcelona is to out score them. However Chelsea also cannot afford to be letting in more than 1 or 2 goals because Barcelona is a team that can score anywhere. So it might just be difficult to contain Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. A favourable result is needed at the Nou Camp. Of course, Chelsea has never been knocked out on her own home ground since Mourinho’s time so the players will be desperate to win the tie at Stamford Bridge. One thing about Chelsea is that when they do get on form and attack, they are also one of the best teams in the world. Even United or Liverpool will not be able to stop them. Anyway, the team which has the most points after 33 games has always gone on to win the title. So United looks a safe bet to make a hat trick of titles.
Comment by Guan Hong — April 24, 2009 @ 11:17 am
Chelsea fans act as if they have a choice, the league is man u to lose, the other teams can just do well and wish man u fumbles. Chelsea fans dream on, Liverpool first.
Comment by KC — April 24, 2009 @ 8:15 pm