Amidst the focus on Manchester United’s Goodison collapse is an emerging discussion surrounding Chelsea, the league’s leaders after four match days. With the Premier League’s only perfect record, the Blues' performance has led to speculation as to how good this team can be. Coming off a championship season, four lopsided wins in a row have pundits asking if they can push-on in Europe, improve upon last year’s Round of 16 exit, and give owner Roman Abramovich the Champions League title he’s purported to covet.
English Premier League Week In Review, Power Rankings: Seeking Conclusions From Chelsea’s Hot Start
Chelsea remains at the top of the league, with their +16 goal difference through four weeks begging questions about how good the Blues can be.
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To this point, the discussion has rang hallow, featuring the same arguments experts could have made two weeks ago (or even two weeks before that, at the season’s start). While Chelsea’s impressed, they’ve done so against clubs whose combined record (when not playing Chelsea) is 3-2-7. While the Blues ran their record to 4-0-0 on Saturday with a 3-1 win at West Ham, their win was against the same Hammers club that Manchester United beat 3-0. The Blues have a +16 goal difference, but they’ve played the clubs with four of the five worst records in the Premier League. Their resumé is a mixed, nearly empty bag from which we should draw neither expectations of improvement nor predictions of collapse. As is the case with most answers sought 10 percent of the way through the season, whether Chelsea’s improved is unknown.
This weekend at Upton Park, however, we witnessed one reason why Carlo Ancelotti’s team could be more dangerous than last year’s. Michael Essien’s brace led the Blues to their derby win, with Salomon Kalou, starting in place of Florent Malouda (rested after the international break) getting the third goal. It was Essien's strongest performance of the season, and having missed the second half of last season with a knee injury, his return is being lauded as a potential springboard for the Blues. Chelsea did give up their first goal of the season, a late Scott Parker tally, but stayed two goals up and two points ahead of Arsenal.
The Gunners had an easy time of it at the Emirates, downing Bolton 4-1 in an match that saw referee Stuart Atwell end-up the talking point. A dangerous and unpunished Paul Robinson tackle on Abou Diaby saw the Frenchman taken off 13 minutes after being brought-on. Atwell missed a foul on Lee Chung-Yong that would have given Bolton a free kick at the edge of the Arsenal penalty area, and he controversially gave Gary Cahill a straight red moments later. The controversy surrounding Cahill’s deserved dismissal’s unwarranted, but Atwell deserves even more scrutiny than he’s gotten for the first two misses. His inability to better judge those challenges ended-up overshadowing the match.
But one match overshadowed the rest on the Premier League’s fourth match day, with Everton’s two second half stoppage time goals getting the Toffees a point from Manchester United at Goodison. It was the second time this year United had lost points after regulation time, begging the question of whether these matches are flukes or a pattern. Is United, renown for their prowess late in matches, now prone to capitulation? Or, are these patches anamolies?
As is the case with Chelsea, it’s too early to answer questions about United. Goals are goals, and their five given up in four matches is alarming, regardless of when in the match they’ve been scored. It seems unlikely that United will continue allowing goals at that pace, and if they improve, the Red Devils will have little to worry about. If, however, they are a club that’s set to allow close to 50 goals, they have little hope of unseating Chelsea.
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Editor’s Picks (aka, Power Rankings)
League: Chelsea. Although there are still a number of questions to be answered, neither Arsenal nor United have shown themselves capable of unseating the champions.
Champions League: Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City. City and Spurs are practically a toss-up, with the deciding factor here Jermain Defoe’s long-term absence.
Europa League: Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham. The Cottagers look the part, after their first win, and until another team steps forward, Everton is not too far back to transcend the gap. That team could be Birmingham City, though three points from Liverpool would have been more convincing.
Relegation: West Ham, Wigan, West Brom. West Ham is clearly ahead in this race. Wigan’s always difficult to pick for anything, though they have shown the capacity to fail. West Brom is a default choice as we wait for another relegation candidate to surface.
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