Chelsea in the Championship?

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Let's get straight into it.

ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

🇪🇸 Hey Alexa, show me an epic collapse in Spain this week. Loading... Real Madrid vs PSG: PSG were in cruise control. They were 2-0 up on aggregate, with only 20 minutes left in the tie, until mistake after mistake was punished beautifully by Karim Benzema. The man is a machine, and keeps getting better every year. Where does he rank in the greatest number 9's of his generation? Big questions have to be answered in Paris––with Mbappe (likely) leaving this summer, Messi turning 35 in June, Di Maria 34, and Neymar 30, how do they move forward? Money doesn't buy happiness, and apparently it doesn't buy a Champions League either. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Imagine it's your second day at your new job. You get up to grab a lunch, and your entire office boos you out. Can't be a good feeling, right? Well, that's how Leeds' coach Jesse Marsch felt after a horrible performance against Aston Villa on Thursday. They have a must win game this weekend––more on that below.  

Premier League Battles

 🏆 Title Race: Man City are still heavy favorites to win the title (-400). However, Liverpool (+275) are on a fantastic run of form. Their last defeat came on December 28th. They have two massive games before the FA Cup / International break (at Brighton, at Arsenal) to really put the pressure on Man City. Pep Guardiola summed it up perfectly by saying that Liverpool are a pain in his Spanish behind. Klopp on the other hand, is feeling pretty good now that he can rotate his front three without having to bring on folklore legend Divock Origi. 

Top 4️⃣: The table and the betting odds will tell you that the Top 4 race has pretty much come down to Arsenal (-190), and Spurs (+275). Mancrisis United are a longer 5/1 to finish in the top 4. They have a chance to shorten those odds by beating Spurs this weekend in a huge clash at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday. Lose that game, and United are pretty much out of the top four race. 

Relegation Battle 🤡: We will admit it, we love relegation battles, and we have two massive relegation games this weekend. Norwich and Watford look dead and buried down there. Leeds, despite bringing on Captain America Ted Lasso Jesse Marsch, are now 3rd favorites to go down. Norwich's odds of going down are so high, that if you bet $100 on them to be relegated, you would win a whopping $1. I'm afraid Billy might pick this as one of his bets since his rent check is coming due.

Norwich and Leeds face off on Sunday. The remarkable aspect of this matchup is that a Norwich win puts them within 3 points of Leeds. The other relegation clash will involve a couple of tall forwards––Ivan Toney and Wolfsburg legend Wout Weghorst. We're expecting tight and extremely tense games. 

A Word on Roman Abramovich

Chelsea are in shambles after the war in Russia and Ukraine has escalated. On Thursday, British Authorities announced that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's assets were to be seized by the government. What does this mean for Chelsea Football Club? 

Let's look at the timeline: On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine. Two days later, on February 26th, Chelsea put out a statement from Abramovich, saying that he was "giving trustees of Chelsea’s charitable Foundation the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC." On March 2nd, Chelsea then put out a further statement, from Abramovich, stating that "In the current situation, I have therefore taken the decision to sell the club, as I believe this is in the best interest of the Club, the fans, the employees, as well as the Club's sponsors and partners." We don't really believe that, do we? 

The bottom line is Abramovich knew the sanctions were a reasonable possibility, and although he didn't want to sell his beloved Chelsea, he and his advisors could only come to the conclusion that the club must be sold rapidly to avoid any international financial dispute. This is the only answer to why he would say he is not selling the club, and then announce the opposite a week later––he knew what might be coming down the pipeline.

So where does this leave Chelsea? Since taking over the club in 2003, Roman Abramovich has stewarded the club to 21 major trophies. He was the first modern era 'big spender' when aligning money and success in footballing terms, and brought Chelsea to the pinnacle of the sport. With his exit, where does Chelsea go from here?

Well, for the time being Chelsea cannot sell anymore tickets. This means that only season ticket holders can go to matches for the foreseeable future. So, sparse crowds at home games and no fans at away matches––this does not bode well. Add onto that 3's official retraction of its shirt sponsorship, and we officially have a mess in West London.

Stability at Stamford Bridge will likely be visible through the end of the 21-22 season. Thomas Tuchel remains committed to the club and its successes, and the club remain pretty comfortable in another top four finish that will see them continue onto the Champions League next season.

But what about beyond? Abramovich has been an open proponent of the equation where money equals success in football. Will the next owner be so stout? How will England decide who buys the club and on what basis and at what price? Where does the purchase go? There are many, many questions still to be answered here.

This is the end of a special era at Chelsea Football Club––whether you like Roman Abramovich or not. The question is now... can the club sustain its success going forward? 

Dan & Billy's Betting Picks

Live look at Billy and Dan after they went 5 for 6 last week. Stick with us, and you'll get that beach house. Let's rideeeeeee! 💰💰💰💰

Dan's Picks: The boys delivered last weekend and I'll give Billy credit where credit is due - he hit all his bets. It's a little unfair that he keeps betting the over in the Bundesliga, where defending is non-existent. I like a challenge. The lock this week is Leeds to beat Norwich at home, at -160 (bet $160 to win $100). I also really like the over 2.5 goals in the Liverpool vs Brighton game. Lastly, we're backing the big boys in Spain to take care of business - Barcelona and Madrid parlay at +110. 

Billy's Picks: 

I'm grateful to have a friend like Dan who is so lost in the murky clouds of his weekend getaways that he is unable to see that I was 0/3 last weekend. He still thinks I'm on a heater from the weekend before. Bless him. I have another three on the docket this week... Burnley +200. Something tells me Burnley roll up to Brentford Community Stadium and show them what fighting really looks like. It's plus money so just bare with me. My Bundes over of the week is Union Berlin v Stuttgart o2.5 (-115). It's a lock? And then finally, for once, I'm in accordance with my co-pilot. I love love love Leeds -165 against Norwich this weekend. Keep DMing me when you lose, I can take it. 

Goal Of The Week 

What a hit from Lautaro to make things interesting for about 90 seconds. Scroll down for what happened next. 

Red Card Of The Week 

Worthy of a second yellow at a crucial moment in the game? If you ask bandwagon Liverpool fans(Billy), most certainly yes. For the neutral that wanted to have an exciting end to the game, definitely not. 

Have a terrific weekend and continue to spread the Straight Red love.