Premier League Matchweek 34: New hope, new opportunities arise for Chelsea

Only four weeks left in the 2018-19 season as the Premier League continues to provide its customary twists and turns. The relegation battle is basically over — Huddersfield, Fulham, and probably Cardiff City going down — but there is a massive two-team fight at the very top between Liverpool and Manchester City, and just below them, it’s four-way brawl for the remaining two Champions League spots.

Matchweek 34 began with Manchester City temporarily ascending to first place after plucking a tricky 1-0 win from the same tree that gifted the football world the midweek 4-3 win in the Champions League over Tottenham Hotspur. This latest loss was Spurs’ 5th in their last 8 league games, but they stayed in third thanks to Arsenal’s hilarious 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace. To make matters even more favourable for Chelsea, Manchester United managed an even more hilarious 4-0 capitulation Goodison Park, keeping them two points below Chelsea.

That gives us a rather mouth-watering Premier League top six.

Matchweek 35 effectively begins tonight, with Chelsea taking on Burnley.

Then on Wednesday, Manchester United will host the Manchester Derby, then host Chelsea on Super Sunday. That game already had enormous implications; now it will be even more important with both teams hanging on to Champions League hopes.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s mid-week fixture is a visit to Molineux where “giant-slayers” Wolverhampton will be hungry to poach another win against a top-six team. Tottenham host Brighton, who are basically the last team other than the aforementioned three to be dealing with a relegation threat. There will be no easy points handed out to any team in the top-four race this week!

Chelsea have a great opportunity to capitalize on all this drama in tonight’s Monday Night Football at Stamford Bridge, against mid-table Burnley. A win puts Chelsea at least temporarily into third, and that’s not bad a place to be.

But will Chelsea finally take the gifts on offer? Well...