Nsomeone saw chelsea The last time they won the title. The key moment came in the sixth game of the season, when they lost 3-0 away to Arsenal. They lost at home to Liverpool the week before and drew with Swansea the week before that. Manager Antonio Conte tried to fit him into the team and decided he had had enough. The team decided they needed to follow him. At half-time he switched to his preferred back three, and in the pleasant boredom of a goalless second half of a game they had already lost, a revolution was born.
Chelsea won their next 13 league games, leaving no one wondering how they would cope with a 3-4-2-1 in which N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic provided an apparently impenetrable shield at the back of midfield. By the time he figured it out, it was too late. . There was nothing to worry about in European football – the previous season saw Jose Mourinho's flop and a 10th place finish – so Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso were on the field as wing-backs. It stayed fresh enough to keep it moving. Other stars were aligned as well. Manchester City are still getting used to Pep Guardiola in his first season of English football, Arsenal are still in the form of late Wenger, Liverpool continue to grow under Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino. Tottenham, led by Chelsea, were Chelsea's closest challenger. However, if they had scored 93 points, the team that finished second would probably have won the league.
Is it possible that the same thing will happen again in 8 years? Chelsea have had another chaotic start to the season, with manager Raheem Sterling issuing a statement protesting the inaction seconds after the team sheet was released for the opening game of the season, which they lost 2-0 at home to City. Again, they have a manager who has brought unexpected transparency. Once again, last season's underwhelming performances have eased the burden on European football. Chelsea have the right to play in the Conference League, but Enzo Maresca He turned what could have been a hassle into an advantage, getting used to his style of play in a largely pressure-free environment and building a virtual shadow team that could step up when needed.
So does that mean Todd Boley and Behada Egbali knew what they were doing all along? Perhaps that is too much, and it remains unclear how the leadership split reported in September was resolved. After all, if you put enough money into a project, things tend to work out in the end.
But with each passing week, Maresca seems to be making more inspired choices as a manager. Potential pitfalls remain for PSR, while 24 senior players brought in by current owners at a cost of £550m have started for Chelsea this season. The fact that it played less than three games (of which three) speaks volumes about the futility of this project. Apparently it has already been sold, with a total loss of £20m. Maresca's greatest accomplishment so far was probably sifting through the boxes and figuring out which pieces didn't fit.
It seems to be working fine. Sunday's 4-3 win over Tottenham was Chelsea's fourth successive league win and came despite several errors from Marc Cucurella giving Spurs a two-goal lead. With 35 goals, Chelsea became the league's top scorer. They have played one more game than Liverpool, but are now within four points of the leaders, so close that even with a game in hand you can feel Liverpool taking a breather. I am doing it.
History tells us that teams with this much of a lead at this stage usually end up winning the title, but the sample size is limited. It's tough being the sole front-runner for a long period of time, but as admirably as Arne Slott has in the past, he's been blessed with injuries and slumps in his game. No one knows how Liverpool will react to adversity. City are in their worst crisis since Guardiola joined the club. Sunday's draw with Fulham showed that Arsenal, who have been unlucky with injuries and have played many of their toughest games, are still struggling in terms of fluency.
After 15 games, this season has a pleasantly old-fashioned feel to it, at least in its best parts. Everyone apart from Liverpool seems to make mistakes and there is a sense of uncertainty for them too. At the same time, the league's big midfield is full of sides capable of upsetting anyone on any given day, including Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford. Liverpool may still get away with it, but for now there is a satisfying sense of unpredictability that means Chelsea – unexpectedly – firmly in the title race, no matter how much Maresca and his players try to deny it. It means joining.
After newsletter promotion
this day
It would have been much easier for England if Australia had qualified for the 1966 World Cup in England. However, due to lack of preparation, they lost 9-2 on aggregate to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which caused a major headache for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Korean War, in which Britain committed approximately 100,000 troops and the Far East Fleet, ended with an armistice in 1953, but Britain never formally recognized northern Korea as a sovereign state and did not sign a formal peace treaty. Never happened. Signed.
This resulted in three main areas: the national anthem, the flag, and the terminology used. “North Korea” was judged to be accurate without necessarily conferring statehood. An agreement was reached to allow the flags of all 16 competing teams to be flown at every game. But what about the national anthem? On December 9, 1965, a sensible diplomatic solution was found. The national anthem will now only be played before the opening game and finals, rather than before every game as usual. The (correct) assumption was that this meant the North Korean national anthem would never be played. Even though they made a huge impact by defeating Italy and advancing to the quarter-finals, their voices will be heard.
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This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian's weekly coverage of matches in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com. We'll get the best answer in a future edition.
