Get the champagne on ice, Chelsea – Premier League title race is already over
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Updated 10/04/2017 at 11:02 GMT
The countdown has begun to Chelsea's sixth league title. Dan Levene looks at the Blues' run-in, and wonders when that champagne might get popped.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte celebrates after the match
Image credit: Reuters
Antonio Conte remains coy about Chelsea's title hopes, but there is one thing he's very open about: this campaign is being counted down one match at a time.
From the season's mid-point he switched his refusal to accept Chelsea as title contenders into a form of logical optimism, where he highlighted that each game won, as leaders, was a game less the chasing pack had in which to catch his side.
That chasing pack is now down to one. Only Tottenham, seven points behind, have any real chance of catching up.
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Eden Hazard celebrates scoring Chelsea's second goal with teammates
Image credit: Reuters
So when can Chelsea hope to stretch that lead to the point where it is no longer surmountable?
Conte's men need only five wins from seven remaining games to be certain - and that assumes no slip-ups by Spurs.
This coming weekend, as with the one that has passed, Tottenham are in action first as they welcome Bournemouth to White Hart Lane on Saturday lunchtime. It's a game they would be expected to win.
The narrowing of the points gap to four caused a curious amount of consternation among some supporters ahead of Blues' trip to Dean Court on Saturday.
And the same will surely happen if this scenario plays out next weekend.
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Tottenham Hotspur's English midfielder Dele Alli celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Watford at White Hart Lane in London, on April 8, 2017.
Image credit: AFP
It will no doubt cause further unnecessary panic amid a significant minority should Chelsea drop points at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Those people could do with remembering that Chelsea can afford to drop points, and to do so in the most emotionally charged of the remaining fixtures would be no disaster.
That said, Conte is adamant Chelsea will play to beat Jose Mourinho's side, just as they already have done twice at Stamford Bridge this season.
That makes a five-point lead the likely worst case scenario going into the Chelsea-Tottenham FA Cup semi final on April 22.
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Chelsea et Tottenham à la lutte pour le titre
Image credit: Eurosport
The next round of fixtures is midweek, with Chelsea home to Southampton on April 25, and Spurs at Crystal Palace the following day.
The most predictable scenario here would be both sides winning and the gap remaining the same.
Sunday April 30 brings a double-header as the Blues travel to Everton, and the north London derby afterwards at White Hart Lane.
The Toffees have a strong record at Goodison, while it is also worth noting that four of the last five Premier League meetings between the two north London foes have resulted in draws.
Each side has a fixture yet to be parachuted into the calendar and the evenings of May 2 and 3 look a good punt for these.
Chelsea should pick-up an easy win at home to Watford, while Tottenham could drop points at Leicester – who would be pushing for European qualification if the table reflected only home form.
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Chelsea's Marcos Alonso celebrates scoring their third goal with team-mates
Image credit: Reuters
Such a turn of events would leave Chelsea seven points clear, with only nine still available to Tottenham.
Which takes us to the first weekend in May, where the Premier League and its broadcasting partners have contrived to offer us a wraparound in the title race.
On Friday night, Mauricio Pochettino's side make the short trip to West Ham and defeat would, should this course of events unfold, hand the title to Chelsea.
Even if they do win there, Conte's charges will have 90 minutes on the following Monday in which to glean three points from the visit of Middlesbrough, who will surely be already relegated.
A win would make Blues uncatchable, leaving the remaining trip to West Brom, and final-day visit of also relegated Sunderland for partying.
That, at least, is one scenario and such title races are, of course, known for their twists and turns.
But the work done so far by Conte's Chelsea has bought them both time and space, and the Premier League trophy looks like having only one realistic destination at this stage of the season.
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Dan Levene - @danlevene
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