Goal.commentary: How Chelsea Can Win the EPL Title

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CL: Didier Drogba, Chelsea v Liverpool (PA)

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By Mark C. Young

Written off long ago by many pundits, Chelsea can still win more silverware this season than Manchester United, and yes, that includes the EPL title.  

To say the least, the Premiership is a long shot: six points behind and with one more game played than the league-leading Red Devils, the Blues also have to leapfrog Liverpool to win the title. And they have to do all of this in just 5 games. But from “the Swinging Sixties” to the Ken Bates era and on to the “Rubledom” of Roman Abramovich, there have been plenty more bizarre happenings down at the Bridge over the years than the possibility of the EPL trophy being paraded there come May 24. 

Here’s how Chelsea wins the championship:  

First, obviously, run the table. Not an easy task with a remaining schedule that includes three London derbies. But, unlike their northern rivals, Chelsea are a relatively fresh team for this time of year. Michael Essien is finally healthy, and Didier Drogba is more than merely fit, he’s rejuvenated and motivated under Guus Hiddink. This week John Terry described his Ivorian teammate as “unplayable,” and Drogba’s goal against Arsenal at Wembley on Saturday demonstrated just that. It was a match-winning goal that displayed all the characteristics of Drogba’s game: opportunism, pace, power and clinical finishing. 

The return to fitness and form of these two players relatively late in the campaign cannot be underestimated as the end-of-season fixture congestion begins to weigh on weary minds and legs. Sir Alex Ferguson’s rant about the stamina-sapping nature of the Wembley sod this weekend seemed to be uncannily “Keeganesque” for the famously canny Scotsman. United are hurting and their manager knows it. Steven Gerrard’s groin injury leaves Liverpool without its talisman at a key time, and the Reds’ defense is suddenly taking more hits than Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter account. As demonstrated at Anfield on Tuesday, Arsenal continue to fight, but the Gunners casualty list could easily be mistaken for Real Madrid’s summer transfer shopping catalog. 

So while its trio of title rivals hobble to the EPL finish line, Chelsea has the wherewithal to kick into overdrive. That’s thanks in large part to Hiddink. Since the Dutchman’s arrival in February, there is less tension around the team (and the boardroom) and the players have responded to his more disciplined training regiment. Suddenly Chelsea is a confident, well-drilled team.  

The Blues are also helped by a light travel schedule that has them in London for every remaining EPL match except the season finale at Sunderland. (Of course, there is the not insignificant matter of a Champions League trip to Barcelona next week, but the charter flight will be comfortable, even if the game probably isn’t.) On the domestic front, the key game for Chelsea is the Arsenal encounter at the Emirates on May 10. Every EPL fixtures is a must win for Chelsea at this point, but with all due respect to West Ham, Fulham, Blackburn and Sunderland, the Arsenal game is the biggest mountain they will have to climb. 

Hiddink has worked a lot of magic in his short time in West London, but he’ll need someone else to channel their inner Harry Potter as well, because even with a five-game sweep, Chelsea will still need two Good Samaritans to take points from United. The Shed faithful will look for an Arsenal win at Old Trafford in the penultimate game of the season, and then pray that Middlesbrough or Hull City can produce monumental Premiership status saving upsets. Or perhaps Manchester City will produce an inspired “Derby Day” performance or Spurs will gain a measure of Carling Cup revenge. Thin reeds to hang title hopes on, but in the waning days of recent seasons, United have managed to drop home points to West Brom and West Ham.  

And then there is Liverpool. The Reds couldn’t have asked for an easier finish to the season with trips to Hull, West Ham and West Brom, along with home games against Newcastle and Spurs. In one of those quirks of fate that only sports seems to conjure, Robbie Keane might get the opportunity on the final day of the season to sink Liverpool’s title hopes. The Irishman would no doubt relish the moment, and Chelsea fans will most likely need that scenario to happen. 

Yes, Chelsea are relying on more permutations than there were English footballers with terrible perms in the 1970s to win the title, but the Blues are a team loaded with players capable of converting a long shot (Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Alex) and handling the one thing they can control—winning their own games. This, I truly believe, Chelsea will do, applying pressure on their injury-plagued, tired rivals and giving themselves every chance to hoist the gaudy Premiership trophy as the Stamford Bridge faithful once again burst into a hearty rendition of “Blue is the Color.”  

Mark C. Young, an Emmy Award-winning freelance writer/TV producer who has covered several World Cups, is a regular contributor to Goal.com. He also writes for the blog “No Mas.”