Siddy Shivdasani
Chelsea are threatening to run away with the title this season. Well, they were.
We are currently in the chasing pack of five and looking far from being genuine contenders (I’m unsuccessfully fighting the urge to mention Groundhog Day).
As usual, we’ve been inconsistent, while our friendly neighbours in west London are looking disciplined, well-oiled and hungry. But I believe the Costa situation could yet get the better of them… even if he stays.
Clearly, his head has (understandably) been turned by the prospect of earning £30million a year in China (tax-free!). At the time of writing, that deal seems to have been scuppered. But I don’t think that’s the end of the story. He is a mercenary who never really wanted to leave sunny Spain. Chelsea isn’t his dream.
But he is a helluva player, arguably the best all-round striker in the PL (although Aguero is a better natural goalscorer). Costa has power, pace and is a class finisher. If we had him, we’d be top of the table, even with our mis-manager. But his Kryptonite is his temperament…
Surely this situation is going to mess with his head and affect those around him. He already has a reputation as a behind the scenes troublemaker, reportedly playing a huge part in ousting The Special One (yay!). The last thing the impressive Conte needs is a disruptive influence in the dressing room, just as things are shaping up so nicely for them.
Admittedly, they coped quite well without Costa on Saturday, blowing away Leicester 3-0 on their travels. The front three on the day, Pedro, Hazard and Willian, are classy players but are Chelsea really going to win the PL without a top-notch, established striker for half a season? Surely they will suffer a lack of penetration in big games without Costa. It seems as though he will stay but my hope is that he will be distracted and unsettled, whether selected or not.
Real Madrid’s promising, relatively young striker Alvaro Morata (who we were linked to in the summer but surprise, surprise, didn’t sign) has been mentioned as a replacement even for this transfer window but he would take time to bed in and he’s not as good as his Spanish compatriot (yet).
That’s Chelsea’s situation but what about us?
My head tells me that we will not win the PL again with The Messiah at the helm. But my heart tells me that we could and should have a crack at it. In my opinion, we now have the most balanced squad in the league. And we are still up there with the chasing pack, despite our inconsistency/hapless gaffer.
Cast your mind back to 1997-98. It was a season of two halves. We looked far from being title contenders for the first part, not only because of our results but also our performances. Then, somehow, things started clicking into place and we went to Old Trafford on March 14 knowing that a win would put us back in the hunt.
Overmars turned the tide in that second of a ten-match winning run, one-nil to The Arsenal, which took matters out of Man Ure’s hands. The rest is history. Our current side is obviously not a patch mentally on those real men back then but apart from Chelsea, there’s not much to be afraid of as it stands…
Man City do have some world class elements but they are in transition under Pep. Liverpool have impressed with their fluid style but Klopp is not blessed with a great squad (I would have loved to have seen what he would have done with our bunch of under-achievers). Spurs are probably the tightest team unit but even their key players are short of experience in securing major trophies. Man Ure are starting to shape up but they are the most off the pace, and Mourinho’s brief this season is surely just to secure a CL berth.
There are two things for sure, we will have to beat Chelsea at the Bridge on February 4 and go on one hell of a winning run at some point if we want to get our hands on the trophy. I’m not at all confident that either of those things will happen.
But like they say, it’s the hope that kills you…
