That’ll teach me to open my big trap about the Premier League title race being an exciting and open three-horse race. What I meant of course, is that it’s actually an open-shut case. Looks like Setantabet’s gamble to pay out on were Chelsea wasn’t such a gamble after all. Game over. Les jeux sont faits. Rien ne va Blues. Manchester United’s goalless draw with Blackburn at the weekend, closely followed by Arsenal’s embarrassing capitulation to Tottenham last night has all but tied the blue ribbons on the trophy.
Chelsea are four points clear of United with four games to go and six ahead of the Gooners, whom this scribe cunningly backed to become champions at 7-1 four weeks ago. You can get as much as 25/1 on them now with Bodog. Thought that went well…
The boys from Stamford Bridge still have to travel to Spurs and Liverpool but, like those twins you plied with so much tequila at the barbeque that they were unconscious by 10pm, it’s hard to see them blowing it now. Chelsea have spent large to assemble by far the squad with the greatest quality in depth, and although much has been made of the loss to injury of Wayne Rooney for United, and myriad Arsenal players, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have had a plague of stricken players as well. But they have had the necessary breadth of top-end players to survive.
Michael Essien, Joe & Ashley Cole and Ricardo Carvalho have each had more rehab than Tiger Woods this season, while the Londoners also had to cope without Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, when they wandered off to catch some winter sun at the African Cup of Nations. Then there was the business of John Terry having yummy times with his England team-mates’ missus and Ashley Cole committing heresy by doing the dirty on our Cheryl. And yet Chelsea are now a shoo-in to win the Double.
The problem for Arsenal and United is that even if the Blues do drop points, it’s more likely that they will stumble again themselves. The Gooners were simply shocking last night and showed that their reserves are not good enough to step up to the plate. How Nicklas Barndoor has managed nine goals in 11 games is a mystery but then with all the chances that team creates, Harry Redknapp’s wife could probably score as many.
England coach Fabio Capello reckons that the reason the Premier League has not provided a Champions League semi-finalist for the first time in seven years is because they failed to invest in new players over the summer. And you don’t argue with Don Fabio. United lost the world’s second-best player when Ronaldo jumped ship to Real Madrid, but all they did with that £80m was spend £16m of it on Luis Antonio Valencia. Luke Aldridge could have spent better.
The notoriously stingy Gooners parted with £10m on Thomas Vermaelen and got the ageing Sol Campbell on a free – and both have been good signings. But they need major surgery to cope with the injuries that are a bi-product of a free-flowing style played by lightweight Victorian chimneysweeps.
All in all the financial crisis has hit everyone in various ways and it’s a shame that the moral of the story is that you have to buy big to achieve success. But, unless they bring in salary-capping or a draft system, I suppose football has become just like any other business. As a one delightful young lady in Vegas once told me, money talks and bullshit walks. So watch out for Manchester City next season.
