Quickly moving on from Barcelona defeat

The 3-0 scoreline at the Nou Camp, which confirmed Chelsea’s exit from this season’s Champions League, probably flattered Barcelona to some extent. Yes, it was clear that Chelsea were probably eliminated after 20 minutes of the game, but with a bit of luck Chelsea could have been a lot closer to the Spanish outfit. Regardless, the tie is over, and the Blues must now turn their attention to getting a top four place for next season.

While things have not been going well in the league lately, there is still a decent opportunity to turn things around and grab a Top 4 spot ahead of Liverpool or Tottenham. Things stand like this at the moment:

Man United, P30, 65 pts.

Tottenham, P30, 61pts.

Liverpool, P30, 60 pts.

Chelsea, P30, 56 pts.

While the four-point gap between Chelsea and Liverpool looks wide, given there are only eight games remaining, it is the fixture list that should give Chelsea fans hope. Chelsea’s remaining fixtures:

Tottenham (H) 1st April

West Ham (H) 8th April

Southampton (A) 14th April

Huddersfield (H) 21st April

Swansea (A) 28th April

Liverpool (H) 5th May

Newcastle (A) 13th May

Burnley (A) tbc

As you can see, Chelsea play their two main rivals for a Champions League spot (Tottenham, Liverpool) in the run-in. Crucially, both games are at Stamford Bridge. While Chelsea haven’t been just as untouchable at home as in previous seasons – P15 W10, D2, L3 – with the defeats to Burnley and Bournemouth being among their worst in recent years, you would imagine that Conte would be reasonably confident of taking on Spurs and Liverpool at HQ.

Indeed, the bookmakers seem to have ‘shorted’ Chelsea’s chances a bit too early. They price United at 1/100, Liverpool at 1/12, Spurs at 1/8 and Chelsea at 5/2 (Betfair) for a top 4 finish. There are also free bets available from the best online bookmakers in the UK and backing Chelsea would be a tempting market – even for neutrals.

You can, of course, go even further if you think that United might capitulate from their second-place position. Mourinho is under a lot of pressure after the Champions League defeat against Sevilla – any more bad results and he might lose the fans. Chelsea can be backed at a huge 50/1 in Premier League betting w/o Man City (188Bet). United are priced at 3/8, Liverpool 4/1 and Spurs 11/2 in the same market.

Of course, even if Chelsea did beat Tottenham (early odds of 6/5 for the Blues are now available for that one) and Liverpool, they will have to be almost perfect over the final eight games of the season. Away ties to Southampton, Swansea and Newcastle all look tough, especially as they are all fighting for their lives in a relegation battle. Those fixtures may require Conte’s men to ‘win ugly’ as the relegation battlers throw everything at the Blues. In a way, it would be reflective of Chelsea’s season if they were to beat Liverpool and Spurs but come up short against the weaker clubs in the run-in.

The feeling around the club now is one of self-reflection, with fans and management looking for a reason for the team’s short-comings this season. However, any such post mortems should be postponed until the end of the season. Chelsea still have a fighting chance for fourth place and are probably more likely to get it than the bookmakers have gave them credit for.

The Blues should move on quickly from the Champions League exit and concentrate on these eight crucial games. The time for reflection will be 13th May after the last game with Newcastle. Only then will we know how big a change needs to come within the team and who the man should be to implement those changes.