Chelsea have one hand on the Premier League trophy. Arsenal and Tottenham dropped points in midweek as the Blues came within a Diego Costa penalty of beating Liverpool as they extended their lead to a daunting nine points. Antonio Conte’s side have not been performing at their best of late, but are still on course for one of the all-time best Premier League seasons.
It is the responsibility of Arsenal to peg Chelsea back. Unfortunately this comes after an almost typical Arsenal performance, a home match that looked a guaranteed victory with their rivals set to drop points ended in an immensely disappointing defeat. The following frustrations of the Arsenal fans are understandable, that’s for sure, but the team cannot afford to carry a hangover from such a weak performance this weekend.
They are the final hope of keeping Chelsea in check, the possibility of finishing this challenging week with a lead as great as it currently is will have Roman Abramovich sitting smugly, but it does not leave much enjoyment in the Premier League title race for any neutral.
Arsenal briefly carried the mantle of Chelsea’s closest challengers before blowing it. Spurs also missed an opportunity to close the gap in midweek and Liverpool are yet to show any significant signs of returning to the form that made them such a joy to watch during the latter months of 2016. Chelsea, meanwhile, are plodding along, forcing results and looking defensively secure for the most part. Liverpool missed a chance to reign the Blues back in, now Arsenal must produce a rare victory at Stamford Bridge to keep an element of balance at the top of the table.
Should Chelsea avoid defeat on Saturday, the destination of the trophy will be all but sewn up. The Blues will go from strong favourites to kings in waiting. The midweek results mean that even a draw is not acceptable for Arsenal, they must go to Stamford Bridge to win.
If they come away with anything less than three points the only team that can change the fate of the Premier League will be Chelsea. Conte’s team will have to throw the title away, they may suffer under the great weight of expectation in that scenario, admittedly, but there are hardly signs of that to date.
Manchester City’s wonderful performance against West Ham has seen them keep pace with the top four, but even they are in dire need of an Arsenal victory. Pep Guardiola’s side may be rank outsiders for the title at this moment in time, but the nature of their performance against the Hammers keeps them in contention, although only if Arsenal can peg the Blues back.
While they will still remain strong favourites for the title even with defeat this weekend, Arsenal have the opportunity to avoid it becoming a forgone conclusion. A draw or a Chelsea victory will leave the league leaders in a such a position where only they can throw the lead away and, frankly, they don’t look like doing that.
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