Week 26 of the English Premier League sees Watford hammer Chelsea at Vicarage Road, West Ham publicly backing David Moyes and Premier League chiefs positive on winter break idea.
Watford 4 v 1 Chelsea
There is a saying that the most terrible of sorrows are the silent ones. So maybe the recent nightmare that Chelsea find themselves in the midst of isn’t that terrible – Antonio Conte won’t shut up.
Conte took his side to Vicarage Road with two defeats in three games including the embarrassing 3-0 hiding against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge. After that shock defeat, Conte asked his board to back him publicly. Violins have never sounded so violent. Had nobody told Conte that a public backing from the board almost certainly means death?
Maybe, maybe not, but after Chelsea fell to a 4-1 defeat against the Hornets, Conte has changed his tune. He doesn’t want backing. The man is so confident in his ability he told the press – they {the board} can do what they want – his conscious is clear.
The Italian does have a monumental problem on his hands. The former Chelsea Assistant Manager Ray Wilkins told TalkSport that the Chelsea players have given up playing for Conte. The prima donnas behaved the same way for Jose Mourinho, a decision that ultimately led to his departure.
What made this defeat even more shocking was the woeful form of Watford. Coming into the game, they had only taken six points since November; 12 games without a win, a run that led to the sacking of Marco Silva.
Silva’s replacement Javi Gracia sat on the Vicarage bench for the first time. His previous two games ending in an FA Cup exit and Premier League draw. Now he has a rare Big Six scalp courtesy of a rambunctious final eight minutes.
The game turned on the stupidity of Tiémoué Bakayoko, who managed to get himself sent off in the 30th minute for two bookable offences. There are some that would argue he was seeking a red card to hide his shame after an appalling start to the game. It was Chelsea’s seventh sending off of the season, more than any other Premier League side.
Reduced to ten men, Chelsea proceeded to play football with a cadaverous rigidity you don’t expect from Champions of the toughest league in the world. Three minutes before half-time, Thibaut Courtois brought down the excellent Gerard Deulofeu, and Troy Deeney scored his third goal of the season (all from the spot).
Watford, who hadn’t beaten Chelsea since 1999, looked a banker for a home win until Eden Hazard produced a rocket from nowhere in the 82nd minute. It was one of only three chances Chelsea had in the entire match.
The script read that Watford should have slung the noose around their neck and hopped onto a chair, but instead, they went rampaging. Daryl Janmatt scored a beautiful solo goal to retake the lead in the 84th minute, Deulofeu did likewise in the 88th minute, and Robert Pereyra capped off an excellent all-round display for the team in yellow with an injury-time fourth.
Chelsea has now lost six times this season, one more than the entirety of their Championship run the last term. With Barcelona coming up at the end of the month and an exit from the Champions League looking like an odds-on certainty, you shouldn’t baulk at the 1/5 odds of Conte becoming the next Premier League manager to lose his job.
How did Conte react to the screams of “Out! Out! Out!”
He gave his players three days off.
Here are the weekend’s results in full
Results in Full
Burnley 1 v 1 Man City
West Brom 2 v 3 Southampton
Man Utd 2 v 0 Huddersfield
Bournemouth 2 v 1 Stoke
Leicester 1 v 1 Swansea
Brighton 3 v 1 West Ham
Arsenal 5 v 1 Everton
Crystal Palace 1 v 1 Newcastle
Liverpool 2 v 2 Spurs
Watford 4 v 1 Chelsea
Premier League Table
1. Man City – 69
2. Man Utd – 56
3. Liverpool – 51
4. Chelsea – 50
5. Spurs – 49
6. Arsenal – 45
7. Burnley – 36
8. Leicester – 35
9. Bournemouth – 31
10. Everton – 31
11. Watford – 30
12. West Ham – 27
13. Brighton – 27
14. Crystal Palace – 27
15. Southampton – 26
16. Newcastle – 25
17. Swansea – 24
18. Stoke – 24
19. Huddersfield – 24
20. West Brom – 20
Premier League Winning Odds (Courtesy of Bodog)
Man City 1/100
Man Utd 66/1
Premier League Relegation Odds
Huddersfield 8/13
West Brom 4/6
Swansea 6/5
Stoke 6/4
Newcastle 2/1
Brighton 10/3
Southampton 7/1
West Ham Back David Moyes
Conte shared the headlines with West Ham boss David Moyes this morning. Over the weekend, The Telegraph ran with the story that an inside source had confirmed that West Ham would sack Moyes in the summer irrespective of whether or not he keeps them in the top flight. Moyes joined the Hammers on a two and a half year deal in the summer, but there is a break clause.
Since the Telegraph piece, West Ham has issued a public statement backing their man saying the Telegraph piece has absolutely no truth whatsoever.
Oh dear.
The board are publicly backing him.
He’s screwed.
I guess it doesn’t help when the club’s primary shareholder calls your appointment a gamble.
Winter is Coming For the Premier League
Premier League chiefs have confirmed that negotiations are underway to introduce a winter break.
The top leagues in Germany, France, Italy and Spain all take a break in the winter, and it’s broadly believed this is why their international sides fair far better than the English.
A Premier League spokesperson confirmed that a winter break wouldn’t take place until the next TV deal negotiations are complete. The current deal is worth £5.14 billion for 168 live matches with Sky and BT holding all of the cards.
Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho have insisted that English teams recent poor run of form in the Champions League is down to fixture congestion throughout the winter months and will lead the applause once the new fixture list comes into being.
