It’s Chelsea’s to lose
AS the English Premier League title been won already? Many are saying that it’s Chelsea’s to lose and I agree with that, but as they say in the classics, “it isn’t over until the fat lady sings”.
So which teams constitute the proverbial “fat lady”? From Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and (yes) Liverpool, City perhaps have the best chance should Antonio Conte’s men slip up.
But expect Chelsea to turn up the heat to keep their healthy lead intact and go on to lift the coveted and much desired EPL Champions trophy. Mauricio Pochettino has quietly been re-building Spurs and it is indeed a pleasure watching them play, but their coach has not let this go to his head.
This time last year, we were all amazed at the exploits of Leicester City and Claudio Ranieri, who went beyond expectations to win the Championship for the first time in the club’s history. Jamie Vardy, Shinzi Okazaki, Leonardo Ulloa and midfielders Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Andy King and others were hitting a purple patch as far as form goes and they could do nothing wrong.
Vardy scored 24 goals and Mahrez 17 as Leicester surged to the title last season, but they have contributed only five and three goals respectively this term. Fast forward to February 2017. Leicester is now in the relegation mix. If they do get relegated, and I hope not, they will again go down in the annals of history as this has not happened in top flight football in England for over 50 years.
The last team to win the league and then get relegated the next season was Manchester City in 1938.
Still with English football, and all things considered, Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal is almost up. The Gunners lost heavily against Bayern recently and have never advanced past the last 16 in five years. It is certainly time for fresh coaching blood.
The Frenchman is the second longest-serving manager in the history of the Premier League and will be out of contract at the end of the season, having been with Arsenal for the past 20 years. With Arsenal fourth in the Premier League table and trailing leaders Chelsea by 10 points with 13 games to play, the FA Cup appears once again to be the North London club’s last hope of silverware this season. Former Gunners Lee Dixon, Ian Wright, Arsenal’s all time second highest goal scorer and mercurial defender Martin Keown, have all urged Wenger to ride off into the sunset. There is a time to come and a time to go and the Frenchman must make the right choice for the benefit of the team. SET a very gettable target of 207/7 in the first ODI , the Proteas wasted no time in recording their second win (including the T20) on tour against New Zealand with a ball to spare as their dominance of the 50-over format continues.
Back to back clean sweeps against the Aussies and then the Sri Lankans has propelled the Proteas to the top of the standings in the 50-over format. That certainly is good, if not great going. We have seen several batsmen dovetailing in the top order including Hashim Amla with that timely knock of 145 against the Lankans, Quinton de Kock coming to the party when needed, David Miller with his massive blows that slayed both the Aussie and Lankan bowling, but you have to hand it to Faf du Plessis, with record breaking knocks at both Kingsmead and Centurion recently.
He is really seeing the cricket ball like a football with text book shots played all around the ground. The bowlers too have also rallied to the Proteas cause.
Imran Tahir, who turns 38 years in three weeks, was scintillating in the T20 match when he took 5/24 in 3.5 overs. Now that is really excellent bowling at this level and away from home.
Naresh Maharaj is Sports Editor/ Presenter on DYR 105.1fm. He is also an MC, Voice-over artist and Freelance Motoring Journalist. Email: maharaj@
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