The Premier League title race is still dead, but considering reanimation

Something very strange happened at the weekend.

For months now, the Premier League title race has been dead. Thoroughly dead. Propped up in the corner of the room, stiff and grey and cold, a peaceful smile upon its frozen face. Condolences have been received, funeral arrangements have been made, and the will has been read: Chelsea are getting the silverware. It’s been dead for so long that, compared to the very much alive relegation, Top Four, and Manchester United vs. Sixth Place battles, it’s almost faded into the background.

This weekend it twitched.

Second placed Tottenham Hotspur have been the best side in the country since the turn of the year and this weekend they became only the fourth side to go to Burnley in the Premier League and win away. They did so in less than perfect circumstances, too: without Harry Kane, and with Moussa Sissoko.

First-placed Chelsea, meanwhile, were having a rare off day. A combination of wayward finishing on Chelsea’s part, and the excellence of Wilfried Zaha and Mamadou Sakho for Crystal Palace, meant that Chelsea recorded their fourth loss of the season. Given that the others have been against Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal, that’s pretty good going from Palace. More importantly, a 10 point gap at the top of the table is now down to seven. Twitch. Twitch.

The vitality (or otherwise) of a title race depends, for the most part, on the numbers. Too large a points gap, or too few games remaining, and there is no sign of life. It seemed impossible for Tottenham Hotspur to overcome a 10 point gap in 10 games. To overcome seven in nine feels … well, extremely, extremely, extremely improbable.

But a title race also depends on the vagaries of the fixture list, on form and mood and fitness, and on pressure and who handles it the best. So, how will Spurs’ remarkable comeback and Chelsea’s remarkable collapse unfold?

The next step comes quickly. With convenient dramatic flair, Spurs’ Wednesday evening game finishes fifteen minutes before Chelsea’s. The north Londoners are away at relegation-battling Swansea, while Antonio Conte’s 343ers are at home against Manchester City.

Or, to put it another way, Spurs have a game that they really should be winning, and Chelsea have a game that they really could end up losing. Not impossible. Not even that improbable.

So by Thursday morning we could have a gap down to four points with eight games left, and a title race that’s stood up, stretching, and looking for its glasses. Then it becomes a question of scrutinising the fixture list and wondering where the next crack will appear. For Chelsea, the obvious candidate comes in mid-April when they head up to Manchester United.

Now, Manchester United aren’t very good. And Manchester United have the Europa League to think about. And Chelsea have this season put five unanswered goals past David de Gea. And we could go on and on in this vein.

But the burning hatred that seethes inside Jose Mourinho suggests that there is space for something odd to happen, and the first 20 minutes of the FA Cup quarter-final, in which they weren’t too terrible, suggested that United may have a plan. Tottenham, meanwhile, have consecutive home games against Watford and Bournemouth …

… and it’s at this point that our vision of the future starts to creak under the weight of all the competing possibilities. What if Spurs win the FA Cup semi-final? Will that scramble Chelsea’s minds? When does Harry Kane come back, and in what state? And what if Chelsea pick up an injury? And this, and that, and Spurs gonna Spurs, and so on.

This is almost certainly futile. Partly because Spurs gonna Spurs but mostly because Chelsea are, despite having lost to Crystal Palace, still a very good football team with a points advantage, a light injury list, and a squad full of players who know how to close out a title race. Meanwhile Spurs have tricky fixtures of their own to close out the season, including a north London derby.

Overhauling seven points requires, effectively, Spurs to pick up at least two (and probably three) more wins than Chelsea. In nine games. So if you’ll forgive a wild careen across the possibilities of our metaphor, Chelsea look less like Devon Loch and more like a Formula One driver whose just had a slight delay in the pits, but remains two laps ahead.

Still, it’s an improvement! Beyond the numbers and the facts, all a living title race truly needs is hope, or at the very least blind optimism, that the future is uncertain. Good sense says no, but for the first time in a while, the imagination says: maybe? It may just have been a twitch, but in comparison with the last few months, the title race is up and dancing around the room. Let’s all join in. It’s been a while.