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Chelsea headed into this weekend with a five-point lead in the Premier League over Manchester City; with City looking on paper to have the easier fixture out of the two of us and we sit here now SEVEN points clear in what could possibly be THE pivotal moment in the race for the title!
We all saw the Chelsea performance against City last weekend. We looked tired, lethargic and if we are honest, we looked second best. With Fabregas out injured and Diego Costa suspended, Chelsea looked a shadow of themselves and offered little threat to our opponents that day.
So to Saturday morning and I defy any Chelsea fan who didn’t have that little element of doubt in their minds over the game at Villa Park being a place that Jose Mourinho had never taken three points.
As I said previously, City looked to have the easier game at home against a team struggling for form in Hull City. City are the Champions and the majority of you would have had that one as nailed on home banker.
For Chelsea? Well the game there last season turned into a nightmare as we lost the game, lost players and lost the manager who was sent from the dugout. Being honest, I wanted three points of course but would have taken a draw beforehand based on ours and the managers record.
What happened? Chelsea ground out a fantastic three points with two cracking goals from Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic while City stuttered and only just managed to grab a draw with a last minute free kick from James Milner to make it 1-1.
Who would have thought it? Chelsea have managed to extend their advantage over City to seven points from five giving us an important cushion to them and meaning that the point we managed to take from them last week was so, so important!
I was reading that Chelsea v Man City last week was watched by more people that had watched the Super Bowl around the world. The reason was simple; the hype created by the media. The media had you believe that if one of our teams could win that game it would have given them a huge psychological advantage in the run in.
However, a week later against two of the so-called lesser sides in the league, we could have seen the pivotal moment that we expected last week. Chelsea with their seven-point lead could now afford to lose two games with City winning knowing they would still be top of the league and that is a massive advantage at this stage.
Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho can play down the advantage as much as they like but deep down and privately they must feel that this weekend has proven to be so important.
Chelsea MUST follow up the three points with another good, solid home performance against Everton in midweek to maintain pressure on City with the Pellegrini’s men facing a tough trip to Stoke on the same night.
The more I think about it, the more I believe this past weekends results could prove to be the real pivotal moment in this seasons Premier League title race giving Chelsea a massive advantage. What do you think?
