Chelsea season up to now has had two levels – the better run to begin, after which the harder set of video games we’re in the course of now.
After beginning brightly within the simpler fixtures and battling their approach as much as 4th, a predictable loss to Liverpool at Anfield adopted a disappointing draw in opposition to Nottingham Forest at dwelling.
Thankfully for us, Newcastle don’t look the formidable drive they did a yr in the past, and we had been capable of earn 3 factors off them in a sport which wasn’t almost as robust as we’d have anticipated when glancing down the fixture record in the summertime.
Loads of have now significantly upgraded our probabilities of making the highest 4, and churning our approach via the subsequent few video games with as many factors as potential shall be important in setting ourselves up for a Christmas interval the place we hopefully stay in contact with the Champions League locations.
So , and what can we count on?
The sport to begin this run is probably probably the most attention-grabbing and laborious to foretell, particularly following the information that Erik Ten Hag has been sacked by Manchester United.
It’s not clear if there shall be a brand new supervisor in place this weekend – it appears extra seemingly that Ruud van Nistelrooy shall be an interim. We do not know who shall be within the dugout, what model or formation they may play, what the ambiance shall be like within the stadium or the morale among the many gamers.
All we all know is that we’d quite be taking part in them on the tail finish of a supervisor’s collapsing reign than firstly of a brand new period. The “new supervisor bounce” could possibly be in full drive.
After United, and after a midweek Convention League sport, we then have our third beefy Tremendous Sunday in a row – this time in opposition to Arsenal. They nonetheless look a prime staff, and the accidents which can be at the moment affecting them will seemingly have eased by then.
That sport is adopted by a global break, and sadly Enzo Maresca must navigate his staff via the Saturday 12.30 kick off to comply with – fortunately it’s in opposition to a rotten wanting Leicester staff.
That’s a vital 3 factors, as a result of after that come a menacing Aston Villa staff plus a visit to Tottenham sandwiching a midweek Premier League spherical in opposition to Southampton.
By that time, squads shall be stretched to breaking level, and the advantages of getting a full B staff to make use of will actually be felt. Hopefully because the December grind kicks in, we’re higher positioned than our rival groups who’re additionally in Europe, however with out the depth we now have.
Win the softer video games in opposition to Leicester and Southampton and we will afford a couple of dropped factors within the different video games. However dangerous outcomes in opposition to Spurs and Villa particularly may have large penalties down the road as we compete with them for Champions League locations.
Maresca is , however we’ve already proven we’re among the many most harmful counter attacking groups in Europe, and that must be an enormous assist in loads of these video games.