LONDON, 10 August 2005 — Chelsea stormed the Premier League ramparts last season and there is nothing to suggest the mega-rich Londoners will be anything but kings of the castle again in nine months’ time.
Chelsea had waited 50 years to claim the second championship of their history and, fuelled by the money of Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich and astutely guided by Portuguese coach Jose Morinho, they eventually won it with ease.
Their tally of 95 points from 38 games, with just one defeat and a miserly 15 goals conceded, left the trailing pack as challengers in name only.
Arsenal and Manchester United, winners of 11 of the previous 12 titles, finished 12 and 18 points adrift respectively.
Morinho, condemned as arrogant for daring to predict Chelsea’s success, says retaining the title will be harder, that the chasing pack will improve and that Chelsea will have to sharpen their tactics to maintain their dominance.
However, the Portuguese does acknowledge his biggest problem could be deciding what team to pick from his jewel-encrusted squad and the club’s chief executive Peter Kenyon has no doubt what the new season, starting on Saturday, will bring.
“The winner of the Premier League will come from a small bunch — of one,” he said last week.
The bookmakers agree, rating Chelsea odds-on to top the table in May.
It is certainly hard to see how Chelsea could be worse than last year following a number of close-season additions to their squad.
