Just when you thought it was all done and dusted, the title race in the Premier League suddenly appears to have legs. Crystal Palace’s stunning victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge has given Tottenham Hotspur an audible squeak.
Okay, the gap is still gargantuan at seven points but then you look at Chelsea’s fixture list. Two of their next three are at home to Manchester City and away to Manchester United. It would not be unreasonable, if you were a Blues fan, to consider that points could be dropped in both.
Indeed, there is history. Manchester City made up an eight-point deficit to rivals United in six games to win the 2011-12 title on goal difference. City also had a comeback in 2013-14, overhauling Liverpool’s late-April nine-point lead.
Still, the layers are not having it. Chelsea are no better than 1.13 (bet365) with Tottenham as big as 10 (in several green listed bookmakers). They are as short as 7.5 with BetVictor but the prevailing wind is that even if Chelsea do wobble Spurs are not the sort of outfit to take advantage.
For a start, there is the small matter of a trip to south Wales on Wednesday to take on a rejuvenated Swansea City. And they have to host both Arsenal and Manchester United. Spurs will probably need to win all their matches to cause an upset.
At the Liberty Stadium they are 1.76 with Unibet for victory. Swansea are 5.1 with Unibet. The draw is 4 with Bet365 and Betway.
Swansea are not a shabby price. We like their work under Paul Clement and uneducated English folks could have been forgiven for thinking the ‘t’ was silenct given his miracle. This is the work of a foreigner, surely? Nope. He is an English coach.
The bet of the Wednesday action does appear to be Chelsea, though. Against City you can get a whopping 2.4 (Bet365, Stan James, Unibet, Boylesports, Marathon, 188Bet) about a victory. It looks too good to turn down.
It is far more likely that Chelsea’s defeat against Palace was just a blip instead of collective and ongoing meltdown. The pressure on the Blues dissipated some time ago and you had to love Antonio Conte’s quote after the loss. “It makes [the title race] more interesting.” That is a clever way of telling his players to relax if they were getting uppity.
City are 3.25 (Boylesports) with the draw at 3.5 (Skybet, BetVictor). They come into the match after a disappointing draw against Arsenal, twice surrendering the lead. As much as we fancied Arsenal for a strong showing, City are hardly world beaters.
They have consistently looked shaky at the back and they conceded far too many goals from set pieces – another against the Gunners. To that end, it may be worth considering a Chelsea head getting on the end of something.
What about Gary Cahill at 13 for a goal at any time? That would make up for the og in Chelsea’s 3-1 win at the Etihad earlier this term. Eden Hazard, who is 3.1 with 32Red, notched that day along with the in-form Willian at 4.6 and, of course, Diego Costa at 2.3 (both 32Red)
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