da wazamba： Should this game even be played?
da fezbet： Had Arsenal beaten Watford in midweek, the gap between the two teams would stand at six points. As it stands, it’s nine points instead, after a limp start gave the Gunners too much of a mountain to climb as they succumbed to a defeat to Watford.
The dynamic of Arsenal’s visit to Stamford Bridge, our Fixture in Focus this week, has changed dramatically as a result.
Chelsea lost to Tottenham and drew with Liverpool in January, and although they’re not exactly enduring a slump in form, had Arsenal closed the gap to six points this week prior to their meeting with Conte’s side this weekend, the pressure on Chelsea would be at its highest level yet this season. Defeat would have then seen their lead cut to only three points and seen Chelsea put under the sort or pressure they really haven’t felt all season.
Instead, once again, you really can’t rely on Arsenal. An easy victory was expected for the Gunners at home to Watford, but perhaps the lure of an actual title race was too much for them. Maybe it’s easier to talk about winning the title than actually setting out to do it. The Watford result seems to suggest that.
The bigger issue for most neutrals, though, is the fact that Saturday afternoon’s big game is no longer Saturday afternoon’s big game. If Arsenal win, they maybe – just maybe – there is room for Chelsea to slip up, and to put them under pressure once again. But the dynamic is different from what it could so easily have been.
From a game in which Chelsea somehow found themselves under pressure to get a result against a side high in confidence, it is now a game where Chelsea know exactly what they need to do against a team who have just lost to a side everyone expected them to beat, and are in crisis once again.
It goes deeper than simply being a must-win game for Arsenal. If the neutral feels robbed of the spectacle, it’s because of both teams and the situation they find themselves in.
Arsenal are without most of their central midfielders, they’re short on form, there’s a feeling they’ve thrown away yet another title tilt because of their own incompetence and their manager is banned from the touchline – though whether that actually matters much is subject to debate.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are a machine. They are a tank with caterpillar wheels roaming over the terrain of the Premier League. They are armoured and seemingly unstoppable. They are relentless and very well drilled. And they have this mentality, one that means they are totally happy to sit back and soak up the pressure, one that allowed them to be totally happy with a point at Anfield, where they took a lead in the first half and were totally content with the situation because it meant Liverpool had to score twice. It’s like they are now treating the league as a knockout competition and claiming victories on away goals.
Conte’s men are so far ahead of the chasing pack that they simply don’t need to care about winning so long as they don’t lose. And if they don’t lose this weekend that should be good enough.
The neutrals have been robbed of the spectacle, not just in this game, but in a league where it all looked so promising. There were six teams capable of winning it. Six teams with great managers, great players, and mostly interesting styles of play. It felt like the Premier League was back to the top of the European pyramid, or fast approaching it. It felt like we no longer had to cringe a little bit when someone called the English top division the ‘Best League in the World’.
Now, we have one team who surely can’t be caught, and five other teams battling for three Champions League spots and wondering how they could have spent so much money this summer – nearly £560m between them – and yet come up so short. Two will be very disappointed when they have to settle for the Europa League next season.
There’s something not quite right about Arsenal’s visit to Stamford Bridge this weekend. That might make it all the more likely that Arsenal surprise with a well-earned victory. But Chelsea are surely too machine-like for that.
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