Happy New Year! The Premier League did not stop of the holiday break and provided great football for fans around the world. Six teams have clearly detached from the rest of the League with Chelsea as leading the pack tying a League record with 13 consecutive wins.
Chelsea comes in strong in 2017. Chelsea’s run is one of the best ever in the Premier League as the Blues dominates competition. Coach Conte comments on the 4-2 victory against Stoke City:
“We faced a really good team and they played the long ball which is very difficult to intercept and win second balls. I’m pleased because my players showed me they are able to adapt to different types of football we face in the league.
The first part of the season was incredible for us but it will be very difficult to repeat this run. The second part of the season will be very difficult for us. We started the season as underdogs and now we have the light on us, we must know this and work more to find the right solution to try to win in every game.”
The only team that seems to follow the Chelsea locomotive is Liverpool trailing by 6 points. Liverpool concluded the year with a signature win against another title contender Manchester City 1-0. Coach Klopp is happy with the way his team is playing:
“We are where we are and if we could end there [top of the table] – cool. But if we are there five matchdays before the end and [the gap] is only a few points, then we will start really thinking something else. But not in the moment – I’m not like this. I have had much more difficult situations in my life than being second in a very, very difficult league. We are happy about our way; what the rest are doing, we have no influence on.
It will not go [forever] for Chelsea like this and of course they know it. But they are strong. I don’t think about their situation. In three or four weeks, when we play them, I’ll think a lot about them and not before.”
Arsenal follows after beating Crystal Palace 2-0. Coach Wenger reacts on the win and Giroud play who scored a fantastic “scorpion” goal today:
“You cannot work on that in training. It’s just a reflex. I think it was an exceptional goal because it was at the end of a fantastic collective moment, which is what our game is about. After that, it was a reflex that any goalscorer is able to take any part of his body, even if it is a little toe, to score a goal. I think Olivier had that kind of reflex.
He transformed that goal into art – because of the surprise, because of the beauty of the movement and because of the efficiency. That will be remembered as the Giroud goal that nobody will forget. Every striker is certainly remembered for one, two or three special goals – and that will certainly be with him forever.”
Afterwards, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United complete the six teams for the title race. 12 points separate the leader, Chelsea, from sixth place Manchester United; however sill a lot is at play in the second part of the season…
