With Manchester City in the driver’s seat, the pressure is mounting on Jose Mourinho and his Blues as they prepare to take on relegation threatened, Norwich City at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
With Manchester City in the driver’s seat, the pressure is mounting on Jose Mourinho and his Blues as they prepare to take on relegation threatened, Norwich City at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Chelsea will look back at the unexpected home loss (Sunderland) that brought slip-up in their title charge and now will rueing the chance of missing silverware this season. With two matches left in the season, the likes of John Terry and Eden Hazard have a chance to move atop the Premier League on Sunday by beating Norwich City and potentially putting the Canaries to the sword.
Chelsea enter the weekend second in the league, two points behind Liverpool and City. A victory over Norwich would help them leapfrog into the Premier League lead, but the Reds face Crystal Palace away on Monday. Chelsea put them back into the race after last weekend’s 2-0 victory at Anfield but those hopes were dashed when a shocking 2-1 defeat to Sunderland brought the Blues crashing down and thus ended Mourinho’s staggering run of 78 unbeaten home matches. To make matters worse, Chelsea were handed yet another bashing, this time in midweek against Atletico Madrid falling to a 3-1 defeat and were ousted from the UEFA Champions League semis.
Eden Hazard made matters worse when he criticised his side’s tactics against the Madrid side. And thus began player-coach fallout as the Chelsea manager insisted Hazard’s words had been taken out of context but also insisted that the Belgian winger hardly sacrifices for the team. Mourinho spoke to the press about Hazard’s statements and said, “Normally you get this kind of comment from players like him. From players who can’t resolve a problem like we had with the first goal. Eden is the kind of player who is not so mentally ready to look back at his left-back and live his life for him. If you see Atletico’s first goal, you understand where the mistake was and why we conceded that goal.”
The above fall-out is nothing but the pressure to deliver. Chelsea and Mourinho have failed miserably this season and with the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool in the driver’s seat, it looks like the EPL trophy might not arrive at the Bridge this season.
