Resolute Chelsea’s league title challenge warming up nicely
Published:Chelsea’s current squad may not yet compare to the force of nature that landed two Premier League titles and three cups in Jose Mourinho’s first spell in charge at Stamford Bridge, but the Blues’ recent results have an ominous look about them.
During the 2004/05 season – the Portuguese’s debut, title-winning campaign at the club – half of the west Londoners’ 38 top-flight matches were won without Petr Cech or Carlo Cudicini having to pick the ball out of the back of the net.
They walked that league by a whopping 12 points and while such a procession doesn’t appear on the cards this term, Chelsea look a fine price at 12/5 to win the title for the fourth time, based on current form.
Despite the fact that they’ve lost three times as many games already this season than in the whole of the aforementioned successful campaign, Mourinho’s men sit just a point behind league leaders, and 10/11 favourites, Manchester City in second place.
The Blues have been racking up wins to nil once again, with four in their last five games if the FA Cup third round win at Derby is included, and their strikers have finally started firing.
After bagging just three goals between them in Chelsea’s first 15 top-flight matches of the campaign, Samuel Eto’o and Fernando Torres have combined to strike four times in their team’s last five league outings.
Thankfully for the pair, attacking midfielders Eden Hazard and Oscar have picked up the goalscoring slack while Eto’o and Torres have been off the boil, with 15 goals grabbed so far by the young duo.
However, Chelsea continue to be linked with a host of forwards, including Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and Porto striker Jackson Martinez, who’s followed up a 26-goal season last term with 12 in his first 14 Primeira Liga games this term.
If Mourinho can pull off an attacking transfer coup, with Rooney priced up at 5/1 to be sporting a Chelsea jersey by the start of February, the Blues’ Premier League title odds will surely tumble as quickly as Ashley Young in the penalty area.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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