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Can Anybody Stop Chelsea?

Published by Ian John on November 26, 2009

Fans of Chelsea football club must be the happiest in the Premier League at the moment. Atop of the table by five points, already defeated both Liverpool and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge (something they failed to do last season), confirmed as group winners in the Champions League and through to the knockout phases and still in all competitions, it has been an utterly convincing and impressive start to Carlo Ancelotti’s tenure as manager of the club.

Currently holding a five point lead at the top of the Premier League table from Manchester United, before they go into this weekends massive clash with Arsenal, the only blot on the copybook for Carlo Ancelotti’s men so far this season has been the 3-1 reverse at Wigan Athletic, although there are mitigating pleas in this situation after keeper Peter Cech was sent off at a crucial juncture of the game and the double whammy of losing their goalkeeper and Wigan scoring the resulting penalty, was too much for them to come back from.

Given the solid consistency of their performances this season, not to mention the impressive attacking nature of the team in recent weeks, it is hard to see anybody catching Chelsea in my view. Arsenal, for all their wonderful skills on the ball, have a chance to close the gap at the weekend, but it looks a thankless task, especially without the threat of Robin Van Persie in attack. While Arsene Wenger’s men could beat Chelsea at the weekend, I think Ancelotti’s men will have too much experience and strength to succumb to the Gunners.

So can Manchester United overhaul them? Certainly Sir Alex’s men will not regard their five point deficit as something they cannot pull back and United have a wealth of experience in clawing back situations like this in the past. The talent is there at United when they play well, but at the moment there can be little doubt in my mind that Chelsea just look the stronger team. I fancy United would win an encounter at Old Trafford, which may keep them in the title hunt, but I don’t see the same strength in depth and experience in United’s squad as I do Chelsea’s and I also sense a real hunger for the Premier League title once again from Stamford Bridge and I think United look more liable to slip up at present than Chelsea do.

Of course, a great deal could hinge on what happens in January. Both Carlo Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson have come out in the past couple of weeks and stated that they don’t foresee them spending any money during the January transfer window. While this could possibly be the case, it seems hard to believe. Chelsea, with the threat of a transfer ban hanging over them, and readying for the departure of four key players for a month in January for the African Cup of Nations must surely be looking to strengthen to cover for these absences and the potential of not being able to buy any players for two years. With Roman Abramovich reportedly assuring manager Carlo Ancelotti the money is there to make signings, if Ancelotti spends wisely and brings in the players Chelsea will need to cover for absences and to push for the title, it is hard to see how anyone will be able to haul them in.

Of course the vagaries of form are a wonderful thing, but at the moment Chelsea show no sign of relinquishing their hold on the top spot in the EPL and they also look formidable in Europe. Could Carlo achieve in one season what even Jose failed to do? Win both the Premier League and the Champions League? I wouldn’t have said this four months ago, but at the moment, Chelsea look a very, very good bet for both.

Image Courtesy of *** ChelseaFCBrian *** at Flickr.com

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