Chelsea lose yet again
There is a saying that reflects how quickly things can change in football. The rise of Leicester City and demise of reigning champions Chelsea and Jose Mourinho seem to back up this statement. Their loss to the Foxes, their ninth of the campaign, was predictable. A recurring theme of the Blues’ season continued here with a poor first half performance followed up by an improved second half display, albeit too little too late. In the first half it was evident that Claudio Ranieri’s men wanted the result much more than a discontented, amorphous-looking Chelsea. Eden Hazard’s injury and body language walking off the pitch seemed to show the poor morale currently running through the team. Even more worrying was Mourinho’s chilling post match interview where he lamented how he felt his work was being “betrayed” by individuals in the team not pulling their weight and declared that the top four was now gone. It only adds to the opinions of critics that the Portuguese has probably run his course.
Leicester City keep motoring on
After being overtaken in the table by Arsenal and Manchester City temporarily, Leicester City reclaimed their position at the summit of the table with cool heads. After an atrocious tenure as Greece manager which ended in him being sacked, Claudio Ranieri has hushed his critics in the most unimaginative manner possible. Their counter-attacking football is a joy to watch – only Manchester City and the Gunners have more goals than the duo of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez’s 26. Their energy and discipline while defending combined with their electricity in attack were simply too good for Chelsea in the first half. The likes of Ngolo Kante and Wes Morgan have done themselves no harm as unsung heroes in this impressive story. Although being put under considerable pressure in the last half-hour, the Foxes held on and, in the middle of December, it is almost criminal not to consider them title contenders. For now, they can only dream. Maybe nice guys can win after all.
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