A Sporting Chance: Jackson goals can show Chelsea he's for real
Since being taken over by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, Chelsea have bought 24 different players.
We hasten to add that this is correct at the time of writing but may be woefully out of date by the time you read it due to another few players worth £50m being bought for £100m.
In the same timeframe, the club have won a total of 16 matches – not great value for money but wonderfully entertaining for those of us who had had to endure two decades of success for the club under Roman Abramovich.
The Blues are waiting for their first victory of the nascent Premier League season, having drawn at home with Liverpool on the opening weekend and then losing away to West Ham United. Both were games they could have won, but the fact that the big splurge has somehow avoided a cast-iron elite goalscorer means that Chelsea’s chance conversion leaves something to be desired.
For those of us that happen to follow the fortunes of another major London club, there’s quite a bit of schadenfreude in seeing the Argentinian now in situ at Chelsea, given that Tottenham Hotspur fans held him in such high regard and wanted him back when his successor José Mourinho was sacked. And when his successor Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked. And when his successor Antonio Conte was sacked.
Pochettino had probably had enough of dealing with Daniel Levy to give things another go but those days might seem like a walk in the park to compared to Boehly and his consiglieres.
If given time and space, Pochettino will be able to build a team that can compete – admittedly, the least that someone would expect for the money that has been sunk into the project – and the first steps are likely to be taken tonight.
If we were more mischievous, we would describe the game against newly promoted Luton Town at Stamford Bridge as a relegation six-pointer. The reality though is that it will surely bring win number 17 in the Boehly era and, Chelsea fans hope, get them upwardly mobile in the table again.
Luton had a tough return to life in the top flight after a 31-year gap as they were well beaten by Brighton & Hove Albion on the opening day and then the scheduled first home game at Kenilworth, against Burnley, had to be postponed at the Hatters’ request as redevelopment works have yet to be completed.
Perhaps the break will have done them good but even so, a trip to face Chelsea, even this Chelsea is a daunting one. Moisés Caicedo will have another week under his belt and surely won’t be as bad as he was on his debut against West Ham while Pochettino might have a firmer idea as to what attacking combination works best for what he wants.
If you’re not a Chelsea fan, look at this week – you might get a few quid if they win tonight or else the comedy show will continue.
The Bet
Chelsea are slightly unlucky in that Christopher Nkunku was signed from RB Leipzig and expected to be their main centre-forward but the France international has had to undergo surgery for a knee injury. Instead, Nicolas Jackson – 13 career goals in 48 appearances – has been asked to lead the line, with mixed results. An early goal for him tonight could be the key to unlocking his potential – Chelsea winning with the him scoring first is worth just over 7.2.
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We’ll be honest – our prediction last Tuesday was something of a Hail Mary call.
When we tipped Rangers and PSV to draw 2-2 in their Champions League qualifier first leg with Luuk de Jong scoring for the Dutch side, we didn’t think it was a racing certainty. So, rather than throwing a cursory fiver on it, we kept our money in the pocket.
Well, given that the proposed bet – 83/1 – materialised, that fiver would have been worth far more by 10pm on Tuesday. Just for good measure, de Jong’s goal was the one to make it 2-2.
Hopefully you followed the advice and are enjoying your new crown and/or fur coat. Next time, we’ll make sure to put something on just in case the unbelievable becomes real, but what are the chances of an 83/1 shot coming in again? They must a thousand to one.
This weekend, Ireland play their last warm-up game ahead of the World Cup, with Samoa visiting Aviva Stadium tomorrow night.
Having been 17-point favourites against England last week – and winning by 19 – the 25-point handicap this week might seem generous. However, the team last Saturday was close to the Test 15 whereas one would expect more of those battling for places in France to be given a final audition this time around.
Such a pressure situation could bring out the best in the possibles but at the same time, the stakes might have a paralysing effect. Of course, Samoa are also preparing for the World Cup – they are in a tough group with England, Argentina, Japan and Chile – and they have a greater ambition than serving as the Washington Generals to Ireland’s Harlem Globetrotters.
At the same time, Ireland are ranked at number 1 in the world and part of that is because they have developed a real depth to their squad, meaning that no one player is indispensable. From that point of view, the back-up players should have enough to put on a good showing against the county ranked 12th.
As we won’t be in this column for the seven-week-long jamboree of rugby that begins on September 8, it’s worth noting that Ireland are joint-third favourites with South Africa at 9/2, behind New Zealand and France. Andy Farrell’s team are 7/4 to make the final – behind only the All Blacks and France – but the odds of reaching the semi-finals are 5/4, with New Zealand, England, Australia, France and South Africa ahead of them.
Anything beyond the quarter-finals would be uncharted territory – let’s hope they can live up to their ranking.
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It’s looking like it’ll be a long season for Everton, who have begun the Premier League season with defeats against Fulham and Aston Villa, leaving them with a goal difference of minus-five.
Sean Dyche’s appointment last season was essentially designed to keep the Toffees up and that was achieved, much like his predecessor Frank Lampard’s firefighting job the previous year.
Unfortunately for Everton fans, the current campaign doesn’t show much sign of having a loftier aim and so Saturday’s visit of Wolves – also with two defeats – to Goodison Park has the look of a game where the losers will be favourites to be relegated.
Everton are 11/5 to have their proud top-flight record, dating back to 1931, come to an end, behind only Wolves, Sheffield United and Luton.
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La Vuelta a España begins today, starting in Barcelona. It ends in Madrid on September 17 but there are some excursions outside of Spain to nearby Andorra and France.
Unfortunately, there will be no Irish entrant, with Sam Bennett not selected to compete by his team Bora-Hansgrohe. The German outfit are 11/2 third favourites to be best team.
The defending champion, Belgian Remco Evenepoel, is the 7/2 third favourite behind Jonas Vingegaard (11/10), who has won the last two Tours de France, and Primož Roglič, who has already claimed this year’s Giro d’Italia and was Vuelta winner in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
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The FedEx Cup will be decided this weekend at the Tour Championship, played at East Lake GC in Georgia, the home club of the greatest to ever play golf, Bobby Jones.
In the past, the Tour Championship winner sometimes also won the FedEx Cup but more often than not there were two different people celebrating on the Sunday evening. That didn’t suit the PGA Tour and so now the competition has ‘starting scores’ based on the previous weeks of the playoffs, ensuring that the winner of the tournament also wins the FedEx.
Writing before last night’s opening round, Rory McIlroy was 7/2 second favourite behind Scottie Scheffler (5/4) – after some near misses in big tournaments in the recent past, maybe the Down man is ready to fire.
