How Chelsea can catch Man City and Liverpool sooner than most think – opinion
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Chelsea have always been a weird and wonderful team since Roman Abramovich’s takeover of the club in 2003. Winning multiple trophies in the Abramovich era, the west London club have been a success for many years now. Despite being possibly under the inexperienced management of Frank Lampard next season, it would be foolish to write off the Blues making a swift comeback to the top of the English game.
There’s are one key reason why Manchester City and Liverpool should be looking over their shoulders sooner than might have thought they would.
That reason is something you could say, Chelsea have been synonymous with during Abramovich’s ownership of Chelsea, grit and determination. While you may look at that reason and think: “well, every club has grit and determination”, you’re wrong. Every club does have both those things, but as I’m about to explain, their levels don’t quite reach that of Chelsea.
Multiple times in recent history, Chelsea have defied the odds to win trophies that many thoughts were beyond them. The 2012 Champions League run and the 2017 Premier League victory are exactly the trophies I’m talking about. Both seemed virtually impossible at certain points in time, yet the odds were defied and Chelsea reigned supreme.
At the height of their power, a team many call the greatest ever, even Barcelona struggled against Chelsea, who were down to ten-men and 2-0 down. You could even argue the 2017 title win was better, as Chelsea ran out comfortable winners in the Premier League after going eight points behind leaders Manchester City after just six games of the season.
To a lesser extent, even last season was a great achievement as the club won the Europa League and finished in the top-four. Maurizio Sarri faced long speculation regarding his reign as Chelsea boss, his tactics and his team selections, but, came out victorious. However, his achievements of last season can be put down to the capitulation of Arsenal and Manchester United, who endured torrid ends to the season.
Chelsea may be at the beginning of an important rebuild under a new manager, however, with so many experienced players, who have fought against adversity, there’s nothing to suggest Chelsea can chase down Manchester City and Liverpool quicker than many think they can.