Why Chelsea will finish in the top four

The veil that masked Chelsea’s previous campaign has again enveloped the club, bringing forecasts about how The Blues will end the season completely off course. In simple terms, there is a huge vacuum of uncertainty about how Chelsea will finish the season – Top Four? Or in tatters.

In spite of this ambiguity around the club and the beloved fans, I (of course predicting) still believe that Chelsea will end up clinching a spot in the Champions League, despite our erratic form.

Now, this intuition is not only based on guesswork, but also on these three points that would in the end ensure The Blues secure that all important Champions League spot;

[1] The Opposing Teams have been just as Poor

Last year, Chelsea had to win the Champions League to guarantee their place in this year’s competition (and we all know how awful that has gone). However, unlike last season when Chelsea had the luxury of qualifying by winning the ‘big-eared cup’, the only gateway to the Champions League is by making the top 4 is the EPL.

The picture is that Man Utd will definitely pick a slot in the Champions League, as well as the league title, given their run of consistency maintained over the course of the season, whilst Man City are also on course to make it.

Having played 26 games, stats show that:

Arsenal have won 12, drawn 8, lost 6;
Tottenham W 13, D 7, L 8;
Everton W 10, D 12, L 4;
Chelsea W 14, D 7, L 5.

The question however remains over the certainty of the 4 other teams picking the 2 remaining slots for the Champions League, and this is where Chelsea would gain an advantage. Arsenal, Spurs and Everton have been as inconsistent as Chelsea and if they all proceed with this form till the end, we’d end up in the 3rd position. If we do pick up form onwards, we could top City and finish 2nd as they have been extremely unpredictable as of late.


[2] Influence of Gamechangers

This could prove to be the undoing for some as there is always times when a team will have to bank on their top-drawer players to shine and win for the team. Gareth Bale has been the driving force of his team, lifting Spurs when in the ‘presence’ of the team as a unit is absent.

Everton have also seen a similar impact from Fellaini, a man who on his own, cannot fire The Toffees above us, and a man who is strongly linked to an exit this summer.

Whereas Arsenal is finding it tough to win as a team; where Robin Van Persie used to be the point man and saviour when in dire need of goals, the Gunners are apparently suffering from the exit of their last reliable game winner.

For Chelsea, thankfully, we have a host of them The acquisitions of Oscar, Hazard, Moses continue to cushion the effect of Drogba’s legendary exit. Whilst Mata and Lampard alone have scored more than 20 goals between them and rescued Chelsea from a losing position in numerous counts, throw the new trio into that frame and you get a good picture of that theory.


[3] Sheer Willpower

The main reason why Chelsea earned the last Champ Lg spot ahead of Spurs was the roused drive that pushed the team to win games in the most surreal fashion. This is where Chelsea could be utterly ruthless and I wonder if Arsenal, Everton and Spurs would be able to match Chelsea’s strength of winning against odds and doing so when it matters.

But unfortunately, that will has waned a lot under Rafa. He seemingly prefers to stick to his tactical nous where an inspired boost in confidence seems logical. Tactics alone wouldn’t win games; then and there you would need the team to dig deep, which they showed again last night, as Eden Hazard proved that with a 92^nd minute thunderbolt which sent us through to the next round in Europe.

By Salako Aramide
Follow @aramyde08Cfc

 

Follow @AStamBridge2Far