We are strong enough to win the EPL

[TacticalBlues 2,817]

I have confidence in our team, hopefully when our loanees come back we'll have some creative, attacking and quick wingers too. But what a story it would be if we win,

Villas-Boas's Chelsea claim Premier League Title in the year of the Manchester, with Lukaku, Torres and Mata (and Kalou of the bench in his 1 minute cameo) securing the crown in what was an exciting game at the Ethiad Stadium.

I can see it now :eyebrows:

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I have confidence in the team, but I'm also being realistic.

Our squad is not as strong as either of the two Manchester clubs; their strength-in-depth far exceeds ours whilst we are in this period of transition between the Old Guard of Lampard, Terry and Drogba and enter the New Era of Mata, Ramires, Lukaku et al.

I firmly believe we are by some distance one of the three best teams in the country - if we do win this league, it won't be down to our strength-in-depth, but my belief our starting line-up is as good as City's and United's, if rather more functional and a great attacking side. Ultimately, a second or third place finish seems the most likely result for us. United remain the team to beat, whilst it remains to be seen if City can maintain their great start.

Either way, Arsenal and Tottenham are no threat to us - I believe our worst-case scenario is finishing fourth behind Liverpool.

Like I say, I'm not being negative or pessimistic, I'm being realistic about the chances we have with this squad.

[Laylabelle 9,359]

We may not be strong enough but last season Man U were shit pretty much,fans write themselves off and they got the job done and all.If and its a big if we can keep our key players injury free.gel together and all then we have a chance.However if we start to bring more youth into the side like everyone wants and what we need,and win a Cup and have a good League run and give ourselves something to build on..then all good...early days see what happens

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Remember football fans are fickle.

If we are level on points with United at the end of April of course we will talk our chances up. Keep the faith, but keep grounded as well, as this team is by no means a set of 11 world-beaters.

[magic weeds 446]

I believe our squad is good enough to win the EPL. But the way we are playing right now does not support this hypothesis. If the squad can play some good football, win confortably against the liks of WBA and Norwich, then we can. But if we keep on struggling against the mentioned teams (Especially at the Bridge), then I am sorry we cannot win it.

[Ollie 4,400]

Nobody knows what will happen and who will win whatever. The only thing i ask is that we give 110% every game and battle with the 2 manchester teams and not lie down like Tottenham and Arsenal did last weekend. The opening game away to Stoke was impressive although we didn't win, we didn't cave in to Stokes aerial & physical bombardment. We gave as goods as we got and in the 2nd half, we had them on the back foot which is a big difference to when we went there last season. In our 2 home games, losing 1-0 and drawing 1-1, we got the wins, although not with magnificent flowing attacking football, we did battle when needed and got the job done. We've got off to a decent, solid, relatively unscathed start and we have strengthened the squad since then with Danny to come back. Sturridge is basically another new signing, we have signed 2 wingers like we all wanted in effect, Mata and Sturridge.

It's gonna be a long tough season with the way the 2 manc sides are playing but we have to hang in there, don't give in and try and do the best we can. We, like nobody, has a god given right to win matches or trophies. We all have to get stuck in and earn them and compete with the best. We have a good squad, a squad that CAN compete and that CAN win matches and trophies. We just have to believe that we are the best and show these 2 manc clubs that we are gonna be there right at the end, going for the same goal as them and that's to be premiership champions 11/12. Not a fucking stepping stone for them to achieve success.

We have the players to pass teams off the pitch and we have the players to physically beat a team, even if we have to go route one, we can do it. If we fall well short of the eventual champions, there's no excuses because we do have a good enough squad to compete.

[lionsden 4,689]

Lol think i heard on SSN a couple weeks back, that some guy bet 100k on Chelsea winning the league

Some lucky punters defy odds in excess of 114,000,000/1 to win the euromillions. . . .His stupidity optimism might just pay off. you never know

[laura90 556]

We could win the PL in theory. But practice is something else. In practice:

-We still have Kalou and Malouda, players who wouldn't come close to top ten teams in Europe given their quality right now. And one of them, at least, is a starter.

--We have 5or 6 players whose contracts expire this season , which wont be renewed . That is not good for the team, in general. And Malouda is not even one of them.

--We have some selfish players, players who are unwilling or unable to cooperate with each other but they still play together.

-How impact on team will leave benchig Lampard, Malouda, Drogba and Kalou at the same time? How will Malouda play without Lampard and Drogba? Will we be able to play atractive football with any of these players in starting eleven given their age and form?

-- We have too many strikers, only one propper winger(Mata), but we play 4 3 3.

- We don't have a propper creative midfielder, and our midfielders are seriously limited in terms of creativity and passing, even movement. Except for Meireles.Our second best creative midfielder is loaned to our rivals for top four.

--Josh, our only creative and probably best midfielder still didn't get a single minute against teams who will likely face relegation. That must be changed as soon as possible.

- Sturridge is a striker, or support striker, not a right winger. I hope he will succeed as a winger and that role will suit him and his further development.

-Ryan Bertrand is 22, he needs to play, he is supposed to be Coles replacement, but we were after Perreira? Will he get his chance in premier league?

- AVB doesn't leave the impression of a man who will give more chance to youngsters. Hopefully it will change.

When we solve these issues , we don't have to win the league. For the sake of this club it would be like we won it.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

To be frank, I couldn't care less about the title. As long as we end up within the first four place, I'll be happy.

Exactly what I was going to say.

I want this season to be one where we build a solid foundation for a future Chelsea which will be much stronger than the Manchesters. We all got blinded when Carlo won the league with us, let's not make the mistake in reverse this time..

[bababoom 4,478]

Exactly what I was going to say.

I want this season to be one where we build a solid foundation for a future Chelsea which will be much stronger than the Manchesters. We all got blinded when Carlo won the league with us, let's not make the mistake in reverse this time..

Exactly, i think it's our time to rebuild a squad for the future. But that's not to say we wont win the premier league because i still think we can.

Too be honest i like it when people write us off, it's gives us a chance to prove people wrong.

[Blue Armour 4,289]

[Henrique 9,133]

Tomo, you are not being realistic. This mid Essien, Ramires, Lampard is not even close of being good enough. Lampard is playing like shit, his bets years belong to the past. Ramires and Essien are not the kind of players to play together in a 3 man mid.

Your 3 man up front: Sturridge, Torres, Mata. Torres is playing with his name, and seriously, we all hope Sturridge will become a really great player, but I'm not sure if he is the kind of guy to play in a 4-3-3 system as a winger.

No Tomo, we are not good enough to win the league. Maybe we can do something special in CL, just like Liverpool that had an average team but did really well in Europe while they were 4th or 3rd in PL.

Im more interested with the prospect for upcoming seasons. But so far, VB is dissapointing, while he keeps using old Lampard, Kalou and barely give a chance for Joshor other guys.

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

Winning the PL will be difficult this season, but I don't see why we should write ourselves off already and settle for a top 4 finish. A goal is supposed to be challenging, and although we don't look as good as United or City at the moment we have lots of time to improve.

But having said that, I won't be too disappointed if we don't win this season as long as we complete our transition by next year, and Andre keeps his job.

[Rkk 17]

Winning this season is not a easy task, but i would rather be happy if i can see progress in youngster breaking the starting spot and change of playstyle with higher tempo game and attacking football, it would be much better than winning this season EPL.

[xjdd 11]

Yeah we stand a chance to win the league ! Though we are not as strong as our fierce rivals.

This is football , not mathmatic game , let's see who's on top by the end of the season.

[SeB 1,281]

Too be honest i like it when people write us off, it's gives us a chance to prove people wrong.

When everybody cant help talking about the marvelous strength of City or the good picks of Fergie, his young team etc... it frees some pressure for the contenders behind them. And it's also valid for Liverpool, us and Loserpool are really well placed to exploit the lack of exposure generated by the over-exposition of the 2 Manchester

[GodZola 630]

I admire Tomo's optimism makes a welcome change to the doom & gloom.

Can we win the PL? Yes, this season possibly not but I won't write us off at this stage & more importantly AVB will not either. The press & all the pundits are getting carried away with the media darlings Utd & also giving the big thumbs up to City & its easy to see why but there making that judgement on 3 games ffs! Rooney is such a key player for utd, if he gets injured then they will struggle especially away from home - like last season, City have impressed thus far & I've been a little surprised by the fact that Mancini has taken the shackles off but for how long?

AVB has quite rightly stated that he expects things to improve on the pitch once we start playing twice a week, & I am really looking forward to see Sturridge back in the side & this coupled with Mata on the other wing we will finally see a change in our playing style as AVB will give both players the license to run at the opposition, a quality we havnt really seen since the days of Robben, Duff & to lesser extent Joey Cole. Mata's cameo reminded me so much of Robben's first appearance, when he came on also as a sub against Blackburn, he ran at players with pace & skill that got fans off their seats.

That said AVB has to address our midfield if we are going to stand a chance, Ramires deserves his inclusion but super Frank or Mikel or both need to be dropped for us to improve. Meireles looks like taking one place so that leaves one up for grabs? Rotation will play a part but atleast AVB has the option to drop players when they aren't performing as the squad is slightly stronger than last season.

The pressure is most definitely off us - lets see how Utd & more so City deal with it.

[Tomo 21,733]

I admire Tomo's optimism makes a welcome change to the doom & gloom.

Can we win the PL? Yes, this season possibly not but I won't write us off at this stage & more importantly AVB will not either. The press & all the pundits are getting carried away with the media darlings Utd & also giving the big thumbs up to City & its easy to see why but there making that judgement on 3 games ffs! Rooney is such a key player for utd, if he gets injured then they will struggle especially away from home - like last season, City have impressed thus far & I've been a little surprised by the fact that Mancini has taken the shackles off but for how long?

AVB has quite rightly stated that he expects things to improve on the pitch once we start playing twice a week, & I am really looking forward to see Sturridge back in the side & this coupled with Mata on the other wing we will finally see a change in our playing style as AVB will give both players the license to run at the opposition, a quality we havnt really seen since the days of Robben, Duff & to lesser extent Joey Cole. Mata's cameo reminded me so much of Robben's first appearance, when he came on also as a sub against Blackburn, he ran at players with pace & skill that got fans off their seats.

That said AVB has to address our midfield if we are going to stand a chance, Ramires deserves his inclusion but super Frank or Mikel or both need to be dropped for us to improve. Meireles looks like taking one place so that leaves one up for grabs? Rotation will play a part but atleast AVB has the option to drop players when they aren't performing as the squad is slightly stronger than last season.

The pressure is most definitely off us - lets see how Utd & more so City deal with it.

:goodpost:

Basically summed up what im trying to say, we may have some weakness's in our teams but so do Utd and City, infact both in vital areas, United serious weak link is their goallie will he win them 15 points like VDS did? will Mancini go all out all season? i reckon City will lose more points due to managers tactics than we will and De Gea will without doubt lose United more points than Cech will lose us.

yes we may no be fav's and no it wont be easy, but we have the best young manager in the world and have streghened from last season, so putting that into concept i cannot honestly see how we can just settle for top 4, we should be aiming higher than that.