Chelsea go into their game against relegation threatened Middlesbrough on Monday night with the nice feeling that the pressure is off as any points they get from the game against Boro will only enhance their points lead at the top of the table.
Since Tottenham lost to West Ham on Friday night Chelsea have the opportunity to add to their lead and clearly Antonio Conte will be targeting a win which would see them move 7 points clear of Spurs with 9 points left to play for.
What that means is that Chelsea will be 1 win away from the title if they do beat Steve Agnew’s Middlesbrough team at Stamford Bridge.
Looking at the recent history between the two clubs makes for some good reading for Blues fans. Chelsea have come out on top in their last 6 Premier League games with Boro and they did it without conceding a goal in any of the games.
Naturally looking at the fixture from the Boro side makes for some stark reading as they have not scored against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 7 Premier League games in a row going back to September of 2001 when they scored twice in a 2-2 draw.
Should the Blues pull off the win on Monday night they will be just the 3rd Premier League team to reach 300 Premier League wins. The other two teams are Man United with 347 wins and Arsenal with 305 wins. It won’t be long until Chelsea reel in Arsene Wenger’s team you would imagine however.
Chelsea have moved back to the top of the goal-scoring charts in recent weeks as the club now has scored a league high 72 goals having taken the lead back from Man City and Tottenham.
Unfortunately Middlesbrough’s weakness all season has been their inability to score goals. Boro only have 26 League goals which sees them tied for last place with Sunderland in goal output. Former Blue Patrick Bamford joined the Teesiders on a £5.5 million deal in the winter transfer window just past. Striker Bamford has only made 6 appearances for Boro but is yet to score a goal for them. Bamford has generally been unable to compete with Alvaro Negredo for the central striking role since joining Middlesbrough the Spaniard has been a more consistent selection for the club all season long.
Boro are currently in 19th place in the Premier League with 9 points still to play for and are sitting 6 points behind Hull City in 18th and 7 points from safety behind Swansea City in 17th with a game in hand. For Boro to have a chance they need both Hull and Swansea to lose their remaining 2 games and they will then need to win their remaining 3 games to stay up or draw 2 games and win 1 game while maintaining their goal difference advantage over both clubs. It certainly sounds like a tall order but it would be some escape if they can pull it off.
Of course Boro need at least a tie on Monday night to still have a mathematical possibility of avoiding relegation, so a Chelsea win will send them down. The likelihood is that Boro will aim to be hard to beat and to not concede any goals or at the most one and then for them to have some joy in front of goal with a set-piece or counter attack. No matter what happens it is going to be tough you would imagine for them to attack for long periods of time and score goals against Thibaut Courtois.
All things considered, even though we think Boro will give a good account of themselves we can only see one result on Monday night. We predict Chelsea will be at their clinical best and will triumph over Middlesbrough by a 3-1 scoreline and so doing will move to within a game of the title and sadly confirm relegation for Steve Agnew and his Boro outfit.
Can’t watch the game? Then follow all the action and goals as they happen on our most excellent LIVE BLOG!