At the onset of the current English Premier League season, oddsmakers were a lot more cautious than they were in the prior EPL season. Leicester City opened at 5000-1 odds in 2015 to take the top spot in 2016, ultimately shocking most of the football community and causing financial distress to the European bookmakers when they did just that. This season, Leicester opened at 33-1 to repeat as champions, a more reasonable figure given that they’re currently only two points clear of the relegation zone. Manchester had the distinction of having the two favored teams, with City opening at 21-10 and United at 7-2 according to European bookmaker Paddypower. Along with Arsenal at 6-1, these three teams were expected to be battling it out for the top spot in the EPL this season.
Someone, however, forgot to tell that to a team that plays in Fulham, London. Chelsea finished the prior season in 10th place in the EPL, a far cry from the success in the standings that owner Roman Abramovich expects from his teams. With a managerial change and a couple of roster moves, they opened the season at 13-2 odds, which meant that they would compete for a Champion’s League berth next season but not much else. Manager Antonio Conte and his squad of Blues clearly see things differently.
Chelsea currently stands firmly entrenched in the top spot, nine points clear of second-place Tottenham Hotspur, who were a 10-1 long-shot by the same odds-makers. While the season still has 14 league games left to play, nine of those matches are against teams in the bottom half of the EPL. In fact, while any EPL game can be a battle, the April 5th match at home against Manchester City and the April 15th match at Old Trafford against Manchester United would appear to be toughest games remaining on their schedule. And with their closest opponents having to play each other one more time before the season culminates, it’s becoming less likely that any team can garner enough points to overtake Chelsea at this stage of the season.
It’s within the realm of possibility that Chelsea could become beset with key injuries that would affect their quality of play and ultimately the result of the matches. But this is a team that has played without their leading goal-scorer Diego Costa and still came away with victories. They’ve also managed to remain largely injury-free, but with a bench comprised of players like Cesc Fabregas, Willian and Kurt Zouma, the Blues have a strong bench that would more than likely be starters on another team. And without the wear and tear of having to compete in additional midweek games in the Champions or European League competition, players are fresher and less prone to injury.
Holding the team together is current manager and former Italian National Team manager Antonio Conte, who switched his team formation to a 3-4-3 after the fourth game of the season and never looked back. Part disciplinarian and part cheerleader, much of the team’s success can be credited to the job he’s done since arriving at Chelsea.
While the prior season demonstrated that any team is capable of taking the top spot in the EPL at 5000-1 odds, that team is now languishing near the relegation zone. This season will produce far less drama in May when the EPL trophy resides in London with Chelsea FC.
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