For the first time in a while, and I thought this before the Liverpool game as you would have read, I believe Chelsea will make Champions League football this season with three games to go.
Qualification is now in our hands again, and I actually think that our bigger threat to take it away from us at this point is Aston Villa and not Nottingham Forest. I rate Forest, I think how they play has been good for the players they have, but I also expected them to slip at the end of the season, and they have done exactly that. We play them on the final game and if it comes to a shoot out to qualify for Europe, I’d back us.
I can see how much the players want this now. I feel that they feel it. I see belief there now for the first time in a long time.
I’m going to reign it in though, because I do also think many are getting carried away. Yes, we have won three league games in a row and the mood is good, and confidence seems to be high. This is great. But we cannot forget the performances since December and how overall they have not been good. I do have this in my mind.
But for some reason, I just have a feeling we will qualify for the Champions League now, and I haven’t felt that for a while. Let’s see if the players and the manager can pull it off – do not let me down and make me regret these words!
We’ve got Newcastle away, which will be very tough, Manchester United at home which we simply have to win because they are terrible (although I have always had a niggling negative feeling about this game that I cannot shake), and then Forest away which is where I see it all resting on.
Villa are my burning problem though, another one that I can’t shake. If we don’t do our job, I think they could be an issue for us. They have Bournemouth away, Tottenham at home, and Manchester United away – they could genuinely win all three if they are on it. Forest, I am not so concerned about.
I just have this feeling that we do it now, and we simply HAVE to do it, for many reasons.
