What now for Chelsea and their fans this season?

The English Premier league has 7 game-weeks left. The title race, top four and relegation places are all open. Even at this stage of the season there are very few people, who can correctly predict what is going to happen next. This year’s EPL is surely one of the best and as Roy Keane might say, “It’s good for the EPL as a brand.”

Similar things can be said about this year’s Champions League. The quarter-final lineup contains all the big guns: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain. Such is the nature of this competition that nobody will bet their entire salary on one team.

So what can a Chelsea fan expect in the final two months of the season?

As of now, Chelsea are top of EPL (after 31 games) and are about to play PSG in the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League.

The EPL table (after 31 Game-Weeks)

EPL	Teams	Played	Points	GD
1	Chelsea	31	69	39
2	Liverpool	31	68	45
3	Manchester City	29	66	52
4	Arsenal	31	63	19
5	Everton	30	57	16

The Champions League Quarter Final Draw:

Bayern Munich Vs Manchester United,

Real Madrid Vs Borussia Dortmund

Barcelona Vs Atletico Madrid

Chelsea Vs Paris Saint-Germain.

EPL

By observing the table, a Chelsea fan would be happy. We are going to play Crystal Palace in next game-week with our team top of the table. But, as Jose Mourinho has said ‘The table is Fake’ and he might be right. Manchester City are only 3 points behind Chelsea but have two games in hand. Manuel Pellegrini’s side also does not have any other distractions as they are out of all the other competitions. So, in reality Chelsea are not the favorites for the title at this point of the season. There are still some crucial matches that are yet to be played in the EPL such as: Arsenal vs Man City, Liverpool vs Spurs, Liverpool vs Man City, Liverpool vs Chelsea and Everton vs Man City.

All the above matches have become more interesting because of one big result in mid-week. You might be thinking that match to be Man United 0-3 Man City, but that’s not the ‘Big’ result I was talking about. For me the big result was Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Swansea. Suddenly, after that result, Arsene Wenger will be looking downwards in the table and not upwards. Because Everton are now only six points behind but with a game in hand. The interesting thing is that the goal difference of both the teams is not far apart. Thus, Arsenal cannot allow anymore slip ups and Everton have an extra impetus in the remaining games.

Manchester City are yet to play Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton ‘AWAY’ from home. The two games advantage for City might not look easy on paper. Chelsea only have one tough fixture to deal with which is Liverpool (Away). Apart from that, they will be playing: Crystal Palace (A), Stoke (H), Swansea (A), Sunderland (H), Norwich (H) and Cardiff (A). Nobody can deny the fact that Chelsea have lost some important points against weaker oppositions in this season. Those six matches should not be considered easy and that too when you are chasing the title. Point duly taken, but in all honesty if we lose any one of those matches, we will not win the title. Now is the time when Jose will say to his players, “The result matters, no matter how you achieve it.”

As a Chelsea fan, I will feel happy if we can get 18-19 points out of the possible 21 and leave it to the other teams. After that, it does not matter as they would have done whatever they can. But, I will feel slightly disappointed if we don’t show courage and fight to get those points and put pressure on City or Liverpool. There are no circumstances (barring a complete breakdown and getting out of top four) under which we will feel angry or frustrated, as for me we are on the right path.

Champions League

Chelsea will play high flying PSG in the quarter finals of the UCL. The odds are equally balanced. Bookmakers believe that this tie will be the most tightly contested tie among all four ties. Paris Saint-Germain’s record in this season’s CL reads: P8 W6 D1 L1. The major concern for Chelsea is their mighty forward line lead by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ibrahimovic has scored 10 out of the 22 goals scored by PSG (only second behind Real Madrid) in this season’s UCL campaign. The team sheet contains players like Edinson Cavani, Lavezzi, Yohan Cabaye, Thiago Motta, Verratti, Thiago Silva and many others. All are equally capable of producing a result at this stage of the competition.

Chelsea have a slight advantage in terms of playing second leg at home, but it all depends upon how they play in the first-leg at Paris. They have the best defence in the UCL in terms of least number of goals conceded. So we can expect a rear guard action added by fast counter-attacks in Paris. But, it can all come down to the way in which we deal with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Mourinho knows him well and might have something up in his sleeve to stop him. But, in doing that we must not underestimate his other team mates who are equally capable to hurt our defense. Still, I expect Chelsea to progress in this tie based on the performances we have shown against City, Liverpool and Galatasaray in this season.

If Chelsea progresses to semi-final of CL, it would be ideal. It will be a great learning experience for our young players like Hazard, Oscar, Wilian and Matic. They will cherish this chance of playing against some of the best teams in the world at such a big stage. So, as a Chelsea fan I would be happy if we progress to semis. But, if not then I will feel some disappointment, but not much as was the case in last year’s group stage exit.

In summary we will be happy, if we fight till the end and push other teams around us in EPL and CL. It will be a good learning experience for many of our young players in their development. The ideal scenario will be winning one trophy, but in reality it looks difficult. I hope we can do it and we will cheer them all the way.

#KTBFFH