There’s something about the London blues that deprives their opposition from the glee of undermining them — Chelsea’s campaigns of Premier League have worked in a see-sawesque fashion. They fall one season and before any team starts thinking it’s about time, they’re back in the title hunt. If you check the number at any popular betting sites like Karama Sports betting, you’d always see Chelsea’s odds moving about like a yo-yo.
As the frictions between the former boss Antonio Conte and Chelsea board led to the Italian egress the club, the arrival of the man, Maurizio Sarri gave a breather to the Chelsea fans. They had a flimsy defence and Conte’s style of play turned out to be too underwhelming for the fans. However, the inclusion of Sarri appeared to be a long-term approach to fix the problems looming within the club — something that wasn’t characteristic for Chelsea’s infamous reputation of sacking managers in frequent successions.
Sarri’s tactical prowess
Sarri lured a wide spectrum of football fanatics with his mouth-watering possession-laden attacking style and rock-strong defensive organisation. The man’s known for his tactical proficiency and his genius style of play stems from his out-of-the-box training regimes. Sarri’s defensive discipline is something that makes him stand out among the other managers. During his time in Napoli, he used a drone to record the training sessions so that he could get a better idea of the size and shape of the formation.
Is Sarri’s team good enough to lift the PL title?
Along with him, Sarri brought the conductor who puts together the perfect orchestra of his illustrious ‘Sarri Ball’-Joringo. Jorginho plays as a deep-lying midfielder in Chelsea’s 4-3-3 system and choreographs most their plays. He’s a brilliant passer of the ball and in their game against Newcastle, he completed 158 passes in contrast to 131 passes completed by the whole Newcastle team.
Sarri’s men like dominating the possession and press their opposition hard to recover the ball quickly. Jorgino also provides a cushion to Kovacic and N’GoloKante to get involved in the attacking plays.
As the league failed to see the best of Hazard last season because of his involvement in the defence duties, this season, it is going to be a different story. Be it the blistering pace that could cause a tremble across the feet of the defence, the dribbling ability that allows him to scythe through defenders for fun or the knack of knocking the ball at the back of the net effortlessly, Hazard’s repertoire ofattacking abilities could send a spectacle around the stadium and lift spectators off their seats.
The midfield trio of Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic allows him to forget about tracking back and gives him freedom run in free spaces in the opposition’s half and cause problems. Hazard has been the focal point of Chelsea’s attack this season. So far, he has bagged 7 goals and 3 assists in 9 games. Although the 27-year-old fantasist has been flirting with his dream club a lot lately, his manager believes he can be the best player in the world and win everything he desires by staying at Chelsea only. And it’s not only his manager who fancies him, even his former coach and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes he could inspire Chelsea to a title success.
“It happened with me and Antonio [Conte, in 2017] and this season, it is still the beginning of course, but if he is the best player of the Premier League until now, which I think he is until now, Chelsea is top of the league because he is the kind of player who can make a huge difference.”, said the Portuguese.
Other horses in the race: Liverpool and Manchester City
Both Manchester City and Liverpool have had a dream start this season. Both sit at the top of the table with 23 points and Sarri’s men are only 2 points shy of them. So far, all three of them have had an unbeaten run, thanks to Ross Barkley’s 96th-minuteequaliser at the Old Trafford last weekend.
Manchester City’s last season’s triumph and Liverpool’s display in the Champions League made it clear that they’re going to be serious competitors for the title challenge. Both of the teams bolstered their squadswith new signings this season and it’s been neck-to-neck right from the beginning. Although, Chelsea quite unexpectedly entered the title race and now they look no less than the favourites — don’t be surprised if the hunt for the glory keeps hanging in the balance till Gameweek 38.
Can Chelsea win the title?
Undoubtedly, City looks like the strongest side so far with Liverpool and Chelsea being almost close to them. But you never know how things could shape in the Premier League. Even after such strong displays, City still couldn’t find a way to get a win against Wolves. Liverpool’s team relies heavily on the likes of Salah, Robertson and Van Dijk. If either one of these players picks up an injury, it could give a serious blow to Liverpool’s title hopes. Same goes for Chelsea. If Eden Hazard keeps firing like he has been and Sarri’s men keep doing what they have been doing for the whole season, Chelsea can seal it. In a nutshell, all three teams have fair chances of sealing it. It is only a matter of luck and consistency now — only time will tell how it’ll end when the season comes to a close.