Blue is the colour: Chelsea leading the way in the Premier League

Every new Premier League season is special in its own way. No two seasons are the same, with different teams either winning the league, making it into the Champions League positions, being relegated or promoted. That’s what keeps it interesting for the spectators, that they never really know what to expect. It sounds like a cliche, but it is a league where on their day, any team can beat anyone, whether it is a winner elect versus a relegation candidate or two old rivals where one side hasn’t won for years and years.

Yes, there have been periods that have been dominated by certain teams. For a very long time, it was Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, who won the title an impressive 13 times in the first 21 seasons. Once the Scot retired, the Red Devils have fallen away, with things opening up a bit since 2013, where four different sides having topped the table; Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and to everyone’s surprise, Leicester City. 

The 2015/16 campaign when the Foxes won the league was a particularly enjoyable season, as they were given odds of 5000/1 before the season began. Very few fans looked at those pre-season betting lines and actually placed bets on them to win, but those who did were over the moon when Claudio Ranieri’s side lifted the trophy in May 2016.

Manchester City have certainly been the strongest side in England for the past few years, and have won the title three times in four years, with Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool being the one side to stop them. This year, however, it really could be any number of sides who finish at the top of the league. Man City will certainly be up there, and Liverpool has started well after a less than successful campaign last season. Manchester United have made a number of key signings, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane, so will also be expected to mount a serious title challenge.

Then we have Chelsea. They struggled to begin with last season under Frank Lampard, and in January the results had been so poor that the Chelsea legend was relieved of his duties. In came Thomas Tuchel, the former Paris Saint Germain and Borussia Dortmund manager, and immediately their fortunes began to change. He made them very difficult to beat again, whilst getting them back to winning ways. They finished in fourth position, but also made it to the Champions League final, where they faced off against Manchester City. City were the pre-game favourites, but Tuchel got the better of his City counterpart Pep Guardiola, with City winning the final 1-0.

Now, expectations are high, and Chelsea is expected to be serious title challengers. They spent £97.5 million bringing Romelu Lukaku back to the club, to hopefully be the final piece of the puzzle. How have they started the season? Let’s take a look.

Super start to the season so far

There have been six games so far in this Premier League season, and Chelsea has started as well as anybody else. In their opening game, they came up against fellow London side, Crystal Palace. Tuchel’s side had no difficulties here, earning a 3-0 victory. They continued their great start against rivals Arsenal, with Lukaku and Reece James getting the goals to inflict a 2-0 result at the Emirates. The next game didn’t go quite so smoothly; they scored first against title rivals Liverpool, but then had James sent off, with Mo Salah scoring the resulting penalty. However, despite having 10 men, they held on to secure a 1-1 draw, which all things considered was a great result.

After the international break, they got back to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa, with Lukaku scoring twice. In their most recent Premier League match they travelled to North London, to take on their arch-rivals Tottenham. It was a close first half, but a tactical switch at half tie by Tuchel saw Chelsea dominate after the restart, as yet again they scored 3 goals without conceding, to go back to the top of the table.

Can they keep it going?

Three teams are all on 13 points at the top, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. In fact, Chelsea and Liverpool have identical records, same results and goals scored in each of their matches, so Chelsea is only top in Alphabetical order.

They have had a tremendous start to the season, and have some relatively easy fixtures coming up in October and November. Will they continue their winning ways, and cement their position at the top of the table? You’ll have to tune in to find out!