September 21: Manchester City vs. Chelsea
October 18: Crystal Palace vs. Chelsea
October 26: Manchester United vs. Chelsea
November 8: Liverpool vs. Chelsea
Those are our next four away days in the Premier League and they could define our season. Of course that's a fairly Daily Mail-esque statement, the "could" conveniently qualifying the declaration and stripping it of most of its substance. The next four away games might not define our Premier League season. The next four away games will maybe almost or perhaps maybe most definitely have a chance to potentially have some sort of undetermined, but not entirely non-influential effect on our Premier League season. Perhaps. If I were clairvoyant, I'd be very, very, VERY rich.
The secret's in the sauce. Scoreboard sauce. Four wins from those four, and we are most likely sitting pretty and quite clear at the top of the table... assuming we don't make a mess of things with the three home ties in the meantime (Aston Villa, Arsenal, QPR). Can you have the league wrapped up by match #11? Since this isn't Germany, probably not. But you can most certainly set the team on their way to dominate wire-to-wire just like in 2004-05 and 2005-06. Mourinho will tell you that such a thing was easier to do back then than now. But he will also tell you that he's a better manager now than back then. Wheels within wheels with that guy. Always. (Except when not.)
You might have surmised by now that there's not much point to these few hundred words. It's ok; it'll be our secret. It's a bit of a quiet Friday night around here and we don't play until Sunday. So let's have a poll. Assuming expected results elsewhere in the meantime (i.e. wins in both the Premier League and the Champions League), how many points from these four away games would you be happy with? City might be the toughest date on the schedule currently, but how about United and Liverpool? We scored a somewhat impressive win against the latter, but gave United too much respect last season and only got a draw. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace away was one of our worst days. Then again, they are now sans Pulis, so what hope could they have?
Vote now!