Another part of me would not be surprised though that we come away ‘empty handed’ this year.
Why do I have this doubt or disbelief in my beloved blues?
Well let’s consider the Premier League first. This coming season, I believe will be tighter than last between the top four or five teams; with the contenders being, us, Man U, the Gooners, the other team from Manchester and unfortunately Spurs.
The money some of them have spent and the signings they are getting is what is making me worry. I’m not panicking yet but I am starting to have niggling doubts and then that is when I start to think about of those ‘empty hands’.
You’ll have noticed the lack of the mention of the scum, now without a ‘fat Spanish waiter,’ I predict a season of mediocrity and stability for them of 6th or 7th place. ? This despite signing Joe Cole. (Money being the only logical & sane reason for him signing for one of our arch rivals and much against the thinking of this writer- see earlier article entitled ‘Joe Cole not good enough for Chelsea.’)
Anyway, back to the ‘big 5’ and the league title.
Ancelotti believes we are embarking on, and I quote the maestro himself ‘a fantastic cycle.’
Well to me this can only mean winning more trophies, particularly the title. Ancelotti’s history with Milan doesn’t instil confidence in me that winning the league consecutively will be a cert this year, though. So remembering this, and despite the fact that winning the double with fundamentally the same squad as last year was a great achievement, just makes those niggling doubts somewhat stronger.
The club have set a precedent about expectations, with good old Bruce Buck clearly stating that a club of Chelsea’s stature have to win a trophy every year. He has the heads of Grant and Scolari on his wall to prove his point and brings a stronger sense of reality and those niggling doubts.
This year I would ‘love it’ ‘just love it’ (keeganesk like) if we were to win the league again and looking at our squad of pensioners (sarcasm if you have noticed) we do have a very good shot at winning it again.
Defensively, if Bosingwa gets fit that makes a back four selection out of him, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Carvalho, Cole and Zhirkov. Add Cech into the mix and that is a pretty awesome defence, which a lot of other teams in the league, including some of the top 5, will look upon with envy.
Up front ‘Dids’, Anelka should put away a few more goals ably assisted by Malouda, look out for him this year as I feel he could have an even bigger year than last. I also think Di-Santo could even have a role to play if he stays.
In midfield we have Lamps, a fit and fresh Essien and hopefully injury free, who did look good against palace. Benayoun / Kalou and Sturridge (although against palace he did seem determined to score the goals of all goals by attempting to stroll past the entire palace side to no effect and screwing up two maybe three gilt edge chances) will always score goals.
The Chelsea squad is good and strong enough to make even Fergie or Wenger drool like Homer Simpson. (Mmmmm Chelsea squad strength)
Another doubt is around who can fill in for Frank in that role of his should he get injured. Although after watching Matic last year and more recently against Palace, gliding majestically around the pitch, passing the ball, shaking off tackles like a spec of dust, I think he looks like a possible long-term replacement.
After writing and re-reading the above why should I have niggling doubts, we should stroll the league again! Yeah right. If only footie was that simple or predictable.
Seriously though, we do have a good squad and with the likes of Bruma, Mancienne (nearly forgot him) Hutchinson, Kakuta, Borini likely to get some outings this year, probably in the cups, then we are not in bad shape at all, not at all.
So my prediction for the title is
1. Chelsea
2. Man U – now there is a team that are in need of freshening up
3. The other Manchester side (they will maintain their habit of inconsistency and being in Europe will do them no favours at all)
4. Arsenal (again for them it is the usual lack of squad depth that will get them nothing for another year)
5. Spurs (despite a lot of huffing and puffing from ‘arry’ being in Europe will be their downfall)
League Cup winners = Villa or Everton
F.A.Cup well us of course making that another double then
Champions League, here I believe the dominance of the English clubs is well and truly over for a ‘cycle’ of time and the winner will be from Germany.
So there you have it, my predictions for the forthcoming season, please be kind and don’t judge me as being too mad.