Can Chelsea recover to make it a three-horse race

A crazy Sunday of football has meant the bookmakers have changed their odds of who will win the Premier League.

Manchester United were favourites but have been leapfrogged by Manchester City following their 6-1 loss at home to their rivals.

Before the game everyone had built it up as a fixture that will go a long way to decide where the title will go, despite the fact we are not even in November yet. However, Chelsea had quietly crept up on United before last weekend’s action with only a point separating the two teams.

They had a chance to move above United, into second place, but blew it thanks to indiscipline and poor refereeing decisions. A west London derby against QPR did not look the most difficult task but they failed to take advantage.

Andre Villas-Boas’ side were hard done by. Referee Chris Foy awarded QPR a debatable penalty, wrongly sent off Jose Bosingwa and then failed to give the Blues a penalty of their own – even if they were as soft as the one Foy gave to the home side.

Didier Drogba was also shown a red card after a disgusting tackle on Adel Taarabt with just 41 minutes on the clock. That meant Villas-Boas had to change his entire game plan by half-time, with the Portuguese manager having to replace Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge by the start of the second half.

Even though Chelsea suffered their second league defeat of the season, they still should not be written off.

They have had quite a few problems this season with a mixture of poor form, injuries and indiscipline affecting their league position. When they can eradicate those difficulties they will surely start to pick up points.

Chelsea’s only other defeat was extremely unlucky. They dominated possession at Old Trafford but just could not convert their chances. A certain Fernando Torres miss springs to mind. If the Blues had beaten United and QPR they would be on the same amount of points as Manchester City.

Villas-Boas has to find the right combination in attack. Juan Mata has established himself as a first-team regular in Chelsea’s front three but the other two positions are not so clear. Villas-Boas has to decide who out of Drogba, Sturridge, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda should fill the other two voids.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City all have to travel to Stamford Bridge before the start of the New Year. That will give Chelsea a big chance to prove their doubters wrong and most importantly pick up the points to challenge the two Manchester teams.

Another problem for Chelsea will be the African Cup of Nations. They are likely to lose Drogba, Kalou and maybe even Michael Essien – who is still recovering from a serious knee injury he sustained in July.

Both teams in Manchester will surely drop plenty of points between now and the end of the season, even if City continues to strengthen in the January transfer window.  So for now Chelsea fans have nothing to worry about. They will surely challenge in all competitions once Villas-Boas has his whole squad to choose from.

Anthony Hay