A huge London derby clash is coming up as 3rd placed Chelsea play 5th placed Tottenham in the English Premier League on Sunday, January 23rd. Chelsea vs Tottenham has always been surrounded in historical conflict, whether you look at the Battle of the Bridge that lost Spurs the league, or even all the way back to the 1967 FA Cup final which Tottenham Hotspurs won 2-1. This season the tale is no different, and this clash is a must-win game for both teams as they look to gain ground in the top 4 race. However, I’m here to say that this game goes well beyond the race for top 4. It could destroy football as a whole, and the key to it all lies with one man – Thomas Tuchel.
Thomas Tuchel is regarded as one of the best soccer coaches in the world at the moment, and for good reason. After decent spells at the likes of Borussia Dortmund and PSG, Thomas Tuchel was given the job at a struggling Chelsea side. However, against all odds, Thomas Tuchel took his Chelsea side to Champions League Glory, forever cementing himself as a world class coach. However this season has not gone to plan at all, as Chelsea find themselves 12 points off City (who have a game in hand) and with 3-4 extra games played compared to top 4 rivals like Arsenal and Spurs, what was expected to be a season of major success looks like it could turn into a season of epic failure, one that could see Chelsea out of the Champions League come next season.
That isn’t to say that Tuchel isn’t a good coach, as proven by his stints at Dortmund, PSG and most obviously at Chelsea. Simply put, like the great Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp before him, Thomas Tuchel needs time to bring in the players he needs, and to then get them to play the way he needs. We saw with City that even with bottomless pits of Cash, Pep needed time to gel his team together, and I could see Tuchel needing a similar managerial trajectory to that. If he is given time, Tuchel will turn Chelsea into a powerhouse, a force to be reckoned with, and a title race regular. Yet, this is all it would take to destroy English football.
Enter Newcastle, a team in the relegation scrap but having been involved in a major takeover, making them the richest team in the world. With Eddie Howe a proven, attack-minded coach at the wheel and a bottomless pit of cash to play with they have only one direction to head and that’s up. With the traditional top 6 looking more vulnerable than ever, Newcastle could realistically break into that top 4 in a few seasons time. In that time, City and Liverpool will be as strong as ever, and a Chelsea side used to Tuchel’s playing style will become another titan of footballing power. Suddenly that poses a major problem to the rest of the league. With Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Newcastle all having full control of the top 4, there isn’t a sliver of a chance for the other teams in the race. Now while the monetary difference between constantly getting CL football and constantly not getting CL football is a massive factor on it’s own, it’s not the only issue here. As we’ve seen from Newcastle’s early signing of Chris Wood, they will make tactical signings to weaken their opposition, essentially like Bayern. With a major monetary advantage over their competitors, and Newcastle poaching talents from the rest of the league on the regular, we could see the competition in the English Premier League destroyed for good, with regular differences of 30-40 points between 5th and 4th.
Now this seems like a pretty bad way for things to go for all of English Football, but there is hope to keep the competition in the Premier League alive. That hope lies in the form of Antonio Conte and Tottenham Hotspurs. The pressure on Tuchel has been mounting after a bad run of form, and a loss to Tottenham could very realistically be the finishing blow to Tuchel’s Chelsea career. That would leave Chelsea in a state of disarray, and their managerial circus will open the door for other clubs to get those top 4 spots. This would keep Chelsea from becoming an unstoppable titan, leaving a place for other clubs to get to the top 4. With Tottenham Hotspurs to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, all that lies between Chelsea and football domination is ironically, the very man they got rid of in pursuit of football domination.
Talk about a headline.