EPL Monday: Chelsea Declared Champions (Again); Wayne Rooney Takes a Punch; Olivier Giroud's Big Day
By Mike Cardillo
For roughly the 842nd week this season, the English Premier League title unofficially was awarded to Chelsea. The Blues didn’t even win this week, drawing Southampton 1-1 at Stamford Bridge, but increased their advantage since Manchester City fell away at Burnley 1-0. Let’s not exactly get swept up in the Arsenal talk that began percolating after its 3-0 win over West Ham on Saturday. The Gunners — the perennial kings of March and April in England — remain seven points off the pace and Chelsea still has a game in hand.
Chelsea’s math toward lifting the trophy in late May is fairly clear cut, too.
If anything, the better discussion is perception of the league champion when you don’t use playoffs to determine a final winner. The EPL runs August to May with 38 games. Chelsea began the season like an unstoppable wrecking ball and now, thanks in part to Cesc Fabregas’ dip in form and Nemanja Matic’s ankle injury, Jose Mourinho’s team slowed down. In 2015, Chelsea is just 5-1-3 (W/L/D) in League play and when you factor in the loss in the FA Cup and the disaster vs. PSG in the Champions League, things don’t seem as bright in Stamford Bridge. True, Chelsea also won the League Cup — make of that what you will.
And yet … Chelsea still remains six better than City with a game in hand. Without any matches to worry about aside from the league, Mourinho should be able to drag the Blues to the finish line, despite remaining games with Manchester United, Arsenal (back-to-back weeks in April) and Liverpool on the horizon.
Compare that to Arsenal, which since the start of 2015, is 8-2-0 in EPL. The Gunners also have an FA Cup semifinal pending but will probably be knocked out at the hands of Monaco in the Champions League on Tuesday. Odds are come May, Arsenal might look better on the field than Chelsea (Olivier Giroud’s recent play helps here), but it won’t matter. Teams play the 38-game marathon for a reason. Points in August count the same as those in March.
In this case, Wenger’s annual false hope/spring probably lasts around two days with the second-leg vs. Monaco waiting on Tuesday. Arsenal fans are riding high, but seem to be resigned that overturning a 3-1 deficit on the Mediterranean coast tomorrow is unrealistic.
Anyways, as is his wont, Mourinho said a bunch of stuff — nothing too crazy — after the draw with Southampton, which featured the Saints equalizing from the penalty spot. I’m not sure the soccer Interwebs could take another couple days breaking down referees decisions against Chelsea. This quote about punditry made me laugh:
Sometimes I’ll wonder why Premier League clubs don’t hire someone to parse through Twitter during matches. Surely every fan — whether watching on the couch or a television studio — knows which adjustment to make better than the managers themselves.
More of the Meh:
First, a tip of the cap to Burnley’s George Boyd for his pure hit on the half-volley that sunk Manchester City at Turf Moor (and his lovely flowing locks). For this week, anyway, Burnley looks to have much more of a pulse than Sunderland in the relegation scrap. If you’re a small team like Burnley, beating the defending league champions at home — on a fantastic goal — is about as good as it gets for Sean Dyche & Co.
As for City? Manuel Pellegrini’s team has looked mostly indifferent throughout the season but still sit in second place for the time being. If City is unable to turnaround a 2-1 scoreline Wednesday at the Camp Nou in Champions League play, there will be a deluge of “What’s Next For City?” columns across the Internet. Pellegrini’s tenuous hold of the managerial position at the Etihad will be debated win or lose.
The problem for City is that this season it’s often looked less than the sum of its parts. For all the talk of youth development and Financial Fair Play, the City team-building strategy is still very much like Mr. Burns building the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team — ringers, ringers, ringers. To wit, the acquisition of Wilfried Bony in January.
Looking at the City roster, unless you blow the whole thing up and make drastic changes, there isn’t an easy fix. That’s not going to stop City this summer from spending and replacing its fleet of BMWs and Porsches with Maybachs and Rolls Royces. The lifespan of great soccer teams usually only lasts 3-4 years, tops, before age and complacency set in. What do you do if you’re City, do you look at the Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Sergio Agüero core and see a team that can still compete for a title in England, but is limited in the Champions League? If you’re spending billions, as City’s ownership has, is that enough?
As it stands City isn’t going to chase down Chelsea, nor will it likely fall out of the Top Four since it’s seven points clear of fifth-place Liverpool, pending the Reds’ game with Swansea on Monday. The recent downtick isn’g going to stop the Manchester City board from crossing its fingers and hoping Pep Guardiola gets bored with Bayern Munich.
A Quick Word on Wayne Rooney:
In case you missed it, Sunday morning English tabloid The Sun published a video shot inside Wayne Rooney’s house in February, featuring some horseplay that involved boxing gloves, Hurricane Phil Bardsley (reminder this happened during his time at Sunderland) and a fake KO inside the Manchester United captain’s kitchen. It’s the sort of dumb story — how dare professional athletes do anything in their spare time except focus on the upcoming opponent! — that gets people revved up on social media in 2015. I suppose this shatters the illusion that Rooney spends his Saturday evenings turning his home into a modern-day salon where he and like-minded thinkers discuss the works of Proust and whatnot.
Jokes aside, more athletes — especially if you’re as famous and as tabloid fodder-friendly as Rooney — should follow the Derek Jeter no cell phones rule.
No matter, Rooney diffused the situation during Manchester United’s 3-0 humiliation of Tottenham, scoring a fairly solid goal and mocking the fake boxing KO. Call it good timing since the dumb boxing video probably would have become a story that hung around Rooney and United had they followed up the loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup quarterfinals with another flat performance. So in that regard Rooney owes a debt of gratitude for the excellent displays by Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Daley Blind.
Or the fact Tottenham decided to Tottenham at Old Trafford.
Goal of the Week:
Matt Phillips is the no-brainer here, for his 40+ yard effort for QPR in a loss to Crystal Palace. Unlike some of the longer range efforts we’ve seen in recent years — Maynor Figueroa for Wigan vs. Hull City springs to mind — Phillips didn’t lob the keeper in the vein of David Beckham, instead just straight up blasted the ball into the net. Awesome.
Stat of the Week:
At Arsenal, Giroud likely will never be as prolific as he was at Montpelier, where he scored 21 times in 2011-12 in Ligue 1 play. Even so, he’s been fantastic — when healthy — for the Gunners this year with 11 goal in 18 games. His link-up play and general play around the box vs. West Ham was something to file away for a rainy day. Since returning from his leg injury on Nov. 22, Arsenal is 15-4-1 in games the Frenchman appeared in, but that stat might be overshadowed by his horrific, miss-filled game vs. Monaco.
Giroud isn’t the perfect goal-poacher that Arsenal sometimes craves, but he remains a very useful player. Going forward Wenger ought to invest in bubble wrap for his legs and feet.
Other Stuff:
No surprise that Sunderland fired Gus Poyet on Monday after losing 4-0 at home to Aston Villa, a performance that prompted a fan revolt. Poyet kept Sunderland up last season, which was no small miracle. Counting on miracles isn’t exactly a strong long-term plan for winning. Allow this to serve as another reminder that life as a yo-yo team — good enough to win the Championship, not good enough to do anything but battle for relegation in the Premier League — isn’t very fun. … Everton took care of Newcastle United at Goodison to give themselves a six-point cushion above the drop.
The Table:
It’s all about the Top Four and a place in the Champions League for 2015-16. There is a small carrot for avoiding fourth, since it means direct passage into the Champions League proper without a two-leg playoff in August.
1. Chelsea 64 points, 28 games played
2. Manchester City 58, 29
3. Arsenal 57, 29
4. Manchester United 56, 29
5. Liverpool 51, 28
6. Tottenahm 50, 29
7. Southampton 50, 29
Bottom four:
17. Sunderland 26, 29
18. Burnley 25, 29
19. QPR 22, 29
20. Leicester City 18, 28
Looking ahead:
England’s clocks are still ahead, so all the games remain starting an hour later in America. That’s not a bad thing since Sunday’s Liverpool-Manchester United game starts at 9:30 a.m. on the East Coast. Daylight savings realigns with English the first weekend in April.