Chelsea’s season hangs by a thread after defeat within the EFL Cup.
They’re wallowing in mid desk within the Premier League, seemingly unable to achieve larger than eighth or decrease than 14th. Their final hope of glory is the FA Cup, and our subsequent sport in that competitors comes up on Wednesday, earlier than the mud has even settled on the league cup closing defeat’s fallout.
On-line betting will inform you that we’re overwhelming favourites for the sport in opposition to Leeds – however we wouldn’t agree in any respect.
We’re at dwelling, certain. And we did nicely on the best way to the League Cup closing by dispatching decrease league opposition alongside the best way. However Leeds are a distinct matter. They’re a Premier League staff in Championship staff clothes. Their entrance line is fearsome, and so they’re stuffed with confidence and a determined need to show themselves in opposition to the large boys once more.
Daniel Farke’s staff are flying within the second tier – they’ve received 6 in a row, and haven’t misplaced of their final 12 video games. They may also probably be extraordinarily assured that their high quality will carry them to computerized promotion, so the FA Cup just isn’t one thing they’re trying to throw away – fairly the other in reality.
And that’s earlier than you even get to their historic rivalry in opposition to us. We haven’t performed the Whites within the FA Cup for the reason that 1970 closing, probably the most notorious video games in English soccer historical past. It’s hardly a contemporary and open wound, however all that point has solely added to the buildup.
How will our gamers react to the defeat at Wembley? That’s one other thriller issue when predicting this sport. They could possibly be impressed and motivated to come back out and present all of the doubters that they’re fallacious. However this can be a younger, inexperienced and probably mentally fragile group. They appear to actually like Mauricio Pochettino, however is he going to have the ability to choose them up off the ground mentally after such an apparent bottling? It’s arduous to say.
This staff is tough sufficient to foretell at the most effective of occasions – the dearth of a constant finisher means we go into each sport not understanding if it is going to be a stroll or a battle. And that goes for each sport, whether or not we’re enjoying Middlesbrough or Man Metropolis.
So the concept this isn’t a really even sport is simply plain fallacious. If we’re at our greatest, we should always have an excessive amount of for them. However how usually have we been at our greatest this season?
