Come on you allies!

Article by e-Chelsea Correspondent Lee Beevor

After the euphoria of the thrashing of Arsenal diminished, a rare week of rest awaited Chelsea. This allowed supporters to temporarily transfer our allegiance to others, in the hope of denying precious points to City and Liverpool. I exclude Arsenal from this statement, as I considered their challenge to already be at an end. In my opinion their league season effectively ended at precisely 12:52 on Saturday afternoon, when Andre Schurrle put us 2-0 in front. To anyone watching Match of the Day that evening, it was clear the three major forces of this the 2013/14 campaign were stepping up a level and flexing their muscles.

So to Tuesday night and a brief transfer of my support to Manchester United, with expectations they would remember they are the reigning Premier League champions and play accordingly. Surely they would take some confidence from successive wins against Olympiakos and West Ham and push City to their limits? Watching the warm-up, it was difficult to suppress my hatred of Rio, knowing I required from him a vintage display. As it turned out, my conflicting emotions were to last less than one minute!

City mercilessly tore into their neighbours, with their first goal typifying everything wrong with United this season. No less than three of the back four were at fault for Dzeko’s tap in, a goal that would never have been allowed against Chelsea’s rear guard. After making a good block, Rafael inexplicably moved out too far, allowing Nasri space behind him. The creaking bones of Ferdinand were too slow to get across and when Nasri’s shot came back off the post, captain Evra stood and watched as Dzeko pocked it in. After this, they huffed and puffed, without ever really threatening City. Still I prayed for a moment of individual brilliance and perhaps a 1-1, but these hopes were extinguished by Dzeko’s second, with over half an hour still remaining.

So United had let me down and I had less expectations of Wednesday. After all, far better sides than Sunderland have visited Anfield and been put to the sword. However, as proof there is no limit to the delusions of a football supporter, I had persuaded myself by kick-off time, that the Mackems could maybe spring an upset. They are fighting relegation and battle hard to deprive Liverpool of the space to utilise their blistering speed. Alas the home side showed why they are in the mix for the title with a proficient display, albeit there was a tiny wobble at the end to briefly reignite my optimism.

Looking ahead, Chelsea visit Crystal Palace at 3pm, giving a chance to stretch our fragile advantage at the summit. Achieving this aim will add to the pressure on our rivals, who both have fixtures with the potential for dropped points. The first to follow are City, who visit the Emirates in Saturday’s late kick-off. I am beginning to feel a little desperate, as the Citizens have a lot of easy matches in their run-in and it is essential they drop points in at least two matches for us to be champions. I have earmarked a trio of away games, namely Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool, as those with the highest probability of halting City’s surge. That Arsenal were so poor at Stamford Bridge has suddenly turned a moment of joy to a serious concern!

Moving on to Sunday and my allegiance will transfer across North London to Tottenham, who welcome Liverpool to White Hart Lane. Again I am faced with the slightly forlorn hope that they have taken some confidence from a couple of reasonable results, against sub-standard opposition. Spurs seem to have finally worked out how to score goals again and if they can get two, hopefully their dreadful defence can secure a draw. For neutrals, this promises to be an exciting attacking game, but for me it will be another 90 minutes of torture, as I await the inevitable blunders of Rose and Naughton!

To conclude, I am pretty confident Chelsea will do what is needed and claim three points at Palace. Whilst this week has taught me not to be so trusting of others, I’m sure by 17:30 on Saturday and 16:00 Sunday, I shall be once again chanting “Come on you allies!”

© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football