‘Things can only get better’ is probably one of the most untrue quotes ever!
Of course, Chelsea have proved to us in the last few seasons that things, no matter how bad they are, can actually get worse!
After losing to Brentford at home on Saturday, in terms of the schedule of fixtures coming up, things are surely only about to get much worse for Mauricio Pochettino and his players?
After Blackburn in The Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening, Chelsea then have to face Tottenham (A), Manchester City (H), Newcastle United (A), Brighton (H), and Manchester United (A).
That pretty much takes us in to mid December, which will mark the halfway point of the season. We could truly be in an absolute shambolic position by then.
However, I am going to play devils advocate here and say that actually, in terms of how things have been going for our current squad and current manager, I actually fancy our chances of getting more points against the ‘better’ teams rather than against the teams we ‘should be beating’.
Obviously I will point at Arsenal as the prime example of this. We all know that we absolutely should have 100% won that game but completely threw it away. We got a point in the end, which I’d have taken before the game if you offered it to me. And I can actually see us standing up against teams like Spurs, City, and Newcastle.
I’m not saying we will beat them all, or even win one of them. But I do oddly feel a little more confident of getting results against them than I do against a team who will approach the game with 10 men behind the ball and defending in a deep and low block.
As we know, Chelsea are massively struggling to breakdown the teams who play that way. So playing in a more open game where teams will be coming at us and perhaps controlling the game a little more than us in terms of possession, will see us get better chances to score goals on the counter attack, utilising the extreme pace and directness we have in attack.
Straw clutching? Yes, probably. But I don’t like to let the gloom and doom completely cloud over me – I have to hold on to that light at the end of the tunnel, and I genuinely do believe what I have written above, I’m not just saying it as fake positivity.
In those games I think we will lose to City (because we are home and also they are City), but I am actually changing my stance on the Spurs game – I think we can actually win this one now, away from home, and at least get a draw against Newcastle. Brighton will be super tough but again, I think we can get something from that one. If we don’t beat this Manchester United team then we might as well throw the towel in right now!
It’s a tough five games in the league, but it will really shape the rest of our season and could be the difference maker. If we crash and burn in these games then we could genuinely be in a relegation battle. If like I believe we can and we get results in these games, then we can still be challenging for a European spot like I think we will.
These next five (six actually because we have to go all out for The League Cup now) are absolutely crucial to our season now.
