Since Chelsea conceded that soft goal to West Ham a couple of weeks ago to draw a game they should have won, the door has shut on them reaching the Champions League. Forget the fact they lead against Tottenham a few weeks before that, it was that slip-up to let Chicharito score that could be a sliding doors moment in the near future of the club.
Since then, both Spurs and now Liverpool have dropped points, bringing Chelsea agonisingly close to catching them, but leaving them just short of what they need. There’s sadly just no way that those two will drop enough points to let the Blues back in, even if Antonio Conte’s men somehow win their remaining games this season.
At the time the West Ham game felt like a dead rubber. Perhaps if we’d known then that our rivals were going to be so careless, we might have held on to that lead a little tighter.
