Time for Chelsea to wake up! Resurgent Man Utd will cut Blues adrift if Liam Rosenior can’t stop alarming slide
Chelsea’s season is on a knife edge – not that you’d know it given the meek nature of their recent performances. Out of Europe and without a league win in more than six weeks, their campaign is drifting into mediocrity at the worst possible moment, and defeat to a revitalised Manchester United on Saturday night could send the Blues into complete freefall.
The strong start Chelsea made under Liam Rosenior now feels like a distant memory. While the run to the FA Cup semi-finals has provided some much-needed respite (albeit they benefited from favourable draws in the fifth round and quarter-finals), it has been a bruising spring at Stamford Bridge.
Since their last league victory over Aston Villa on March 4, the Blues have been veritably dumped out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain, losing 8-2 on aggregate, and lost their three league games to Newcastle, Everton and Manchester City by a cumulative scoreline of 7-0 – the first time they have suffered three Premier League defeats in a row without scoring a single goal in 28 years.
That utterly abysmal run that has left Chelsea a steep seven points behind Saturday night’s visitors Man Utd, who – like Aston Villa – look all-but guaranteed a top-five finish without having to do all that much themselves. For Chelsea, it’s simply a must-win game and the next in a series of daunting fixtures as they risk being cut adrift both in the short and long-term.
Falling behind
Rosenior should surely have no problems injecting the sense of urgency that has been dearly lacking from his side’s recent performances when Michael Carrick brings the Red Devils to west London. The success of their season may well depend on it.
Sunday’s limp 3-0 home defeat to Man City means Chelsea are now closer to Bournemouth in 11th than they are to Liverpool in the fifth and final Champions League place. United, meanwhile, have opened up a comfortable cushion to the sixth-placed Blues despite only collecting seven points from a possible 15 since early March.
Arne Slot’s beleaguered Reds are still within touching distance for the time being, but if Chelsea suffer another defeat on Saturday and other results go against them, too, then they could very easily tumble into the mire of a crowded mid-table.
What’s even more concerning is that the toiling west London club still need to play Brighton, Liverpool and Tottenham after the United showdown, while they finish the season away at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light fortress to complete a daunting run-in.
