Chelsea's turn to speak

A RARELY EXCITING RACE

The big picture is not how good Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea are. The biggest conclusion about the Premier League is that this season's race has been too exciting. Not only have they fallen off the top spot, Man.City are now in last place in the group that will qualify for next season's Champions League. They are only two points ahead of newly promoted Nottingham Forest. Three of the top seven teams - Tottenham, Newcastle and Manchester United - are in the bottom half of the table. Above them, Chelsea are the fourth team to have ever finished second in the table - after Liverpool, Man.City and Arsenal.

Man.City's decline or Liverpool's rise to the title contenders are the main topics. In addition, Arsenal's hopes of competing for the top spot have not improved as promised. Newcastle have "hit the ceiling" because they cannot rise with an English coach. MU has not improved despite recruiting the famous coach Ruben Amorim. People can argue in different directions about the above stories. Only one thing is clear: Chelsea has hardly been mentioned, during the opening stage of the season. Enzo Maresca quietly took the head coach position, with the task of cleaning up the mess left by his predecessor Mauricio Pochettino, rather than realizing any significant ambitions. In the European arena, Maresca's teachers and students only participated in the Conference League.

But Chelsea are the only team to have won all four of their recent Premier League matches. Just reaching the top four would be a significant achievement for Mr. Maresca, let alone taking second place, four points ahead of champions Man.City after 15 rounds. If one needs to find a typical match - for both Chelsea in particular and the exciting race in the Premier League in general, it would be the 4-3 win at Tottenham last weekend. Tottenham, MU, Newcastle lost; Arsenal, Man.City drew; Liverpool had their match postponed due to a storm (but they only drew in their most recent match). Only Chelsea won, and that was after being 2 goals down in the first 11 minutes.

Palmer is making a big contribution to Chelsea

P ALMER HAS A NEW RECORD

Young star Cole Palmer scored 2 goals, both from the penalty spot. But the important thing is that Palmer's composure, winning spirit and aggressiveness in playing style made him stand out, worthy of being called the best player of the match. He has now surpassed Yaya Toure (Man.City) to become the best penalty taker in the history of the Premier League, with a 100% efficiency after 12 shots (Toure also achieved a 100% efficiency, but only took 11 shots). In the second penalty, Palmer also took a Panenka shot, showing how confident he was.

For the first time in nearly 20 years (since the match against Leeds in 2006), Chelsea have been two goals behind after just 11 minutes. But throughout the match, there was hardly a moment when viewers thought Chelsea would lose. Defender Marc Cucurella made a personal mistake (slipping on the slippery turf, having to change his boots) leading to both goals, but Jadon Sancho quickly reduced the score. Then, it was Tottenham's turn to "lose" thanks to unnecessary fouls by Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr in the penalty area. Luckily for Chelsea: Moises Caicedo controversially escaped a red card before he himself won a penalty for Chelsea to equalize. Enzo Fernandez scored the remaining goal for Chelsea.

Chelsea are now two points ahead of third-placed Arsenal and only four points behind leaders Liverpool (of course, Liverpool still have a game in hand). There will be plenty of talk about Chelsea in the coming days, and there will definitely be talk of Maresca's side's ability to challenge for the title. But the headline Sky Sports posed right after the 4-3 win over Tottenham said it all: "Chelsea can't win the title - right or wrong?"

Coach Maresca himself denied the goal of competing for the top spot not long ago, mainly saying that his players did not have enough experience. But in the near future, the story will be different. Chelsea's next opponents are only Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Ipswich, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Wolverhampton (including 4 of the 6 bottom teams).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/den-luot-chelsea-len-tieng-185241209231325582.htm