Chelsea have had a dreadful season all instructed, filled with moments of temporary hope mixed with devastating losses just like the one we suffered yesterday at Wembley.
All of that is fairly opposite to expectation. We introduced in a brand new supervisor and spent some huge cash and there was quite a lot of hope about our prospects. Bettors could have made a killing backing in opposition to us this season.
However is it actually sport over? Is that this season going to finish up just like the final one, tapering off within the spring with little to play for and nothing to stay up for till August, when one can solely hope that issues have brightened up a little bit? We actually hope not. And, to be there, there’s loads of hope that it received’t.
For one factor, we’re nonetheless within the FA Cup. That offers us a tangible competitors that we’re nonetheless in, with an actual likelihood of successful. Our Carabao capitulation doesn’t precisely elevate hopes, but when we made it to the ultimate there, we will definitely make it to the ultimate elsewhere.
Whereas Liverpool’s victory there hurts, it does imply that one other European spots is offered by the league. Meaning there’s much more to play for on that entrance. Final 12 months we have been fading so badly that we by no means felt in contact with the highest sides. This time it’s totally different. For all our woes, we’ve seen sufficient good performances to make us assume that we will put a run collectively and battle our means into the highest 7. It’s not an enormous ask for a squad that’s had a billion spent on it.
We’ll discover out lots within the subsequent couple of weeks. There’s no time to lick our wounds – our FA Cup marketing campaign begins in earnest on Wednesday evening with a tricky sport in opposition to in kind Leeds, who’re flying excessive within the Championship and licking their lips on the prospect of enjoying us whereas we’re wounded.
Issues aren’t any simpler within the Premier League after that both. We’ve received actually difficult video games in opposition to Brentford, Newcastle and Arsenal in March.
The subsequent month will both put us again on observe and set us up for an finish to the marketing campaign the place we even have significant video games, or it will likely be the coup de grace on a second consecutive disappointment of a season?
Tune in to the following episode of rollercoaster Chelsea to seek out out…
