Weekend Will be Telling for Chelsea’s Premier League Hopes

It’s early, only mid-October, and due to the international breaks, only seven matches into the Premier League season. But already, Chelsea is making themselves an early but solid favorite in their quest for a second straight league title. Depending on which sportbook you believe, their odds of winning the league are around 1.6, obscenely low for this early in the season. So the question for Premier League bettors is – can they be caught, and if so, by what team?

Chelsea has not been perfect to start 2010/11, but they’ve been close, their only blemish being a 1-0 away loss to Manchester City. In fact, it’s Man City who sit closest to the Blues, four points down. Just a point below them is perennial contender Manchester United, followed two more points behind by Arsenal and Spurs. West Brom is also on 11 points, but no one is giving them a realistic shot at the title – they’re just happy to be well above their relegation rivals.

Man City has a number of things going for them, first and not least that they are the one side to handle Chelsea so far. Arsenal has already lost to the Blues, 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the last match before the international break. United can’t be discounted, especially so early, and there’s a reason that the betting houses have them above City in second position – they’ve gotten where they are this season so far essentially without the services of one Wayne Rooney. When he gets back to form, that’s a different team.

This weekend provides a serious test for Chelsea, as they head out for a tough road trip to Villa Park. It might even be a good time to put down some money on a draw or some result for Aston Villa. Chelsea faces the trip with both Didier Drogba and Lampard out injured. Yossi Benayoun is also out, reportedly for six months or more. Very few other teams could absorb the loss of three high-powered offensive players like that, but so far this season, Florent Malouda has been just as deadly as Drogba, and Salomon Kalou isn’t far behind. Still, especially with a Champions League match coming mid-week, this could be a let-down weekend for the Blues. It’s a hard one to call.

If they survive the congested schedule ahead of them over the next month, Chelsea should be fairly comfortable. They have more than a game lead over all of their rivals, who know that they will have to stay perfect and wait for the Blues to make mistakes. Mistakes, though, have been few and far between so far this season at Stamford Bridge.

Category: EPL