What the Premier League's top 6 managers would want for Christmas
The Christmas and New Year festive period is one where the Premier League takes an opportunity to put its teams through the wringer as they play three games in a span of under 10 days.
A holiday grind like this is no doubt taxing, so here’s what the managers of the league’s current top six clubs are likely to wish for this Christmas.
Chelsea
Fixtures: Bournemouth(H), Stoke City(H), Tottenham Hotspur(A)
Wish for carnage in the Liverpool-City game
While Chelsea do enjoy a seven-point lead to second-placed Manchester City with Liverpool a further point behind, Conte would still like to pad up that advantage even more. Rather fortuitously for him, his two main rivals in the chasing pack take on each other in a New Year’s Eve showdown when the Reds host the Citizens at Anfield.
While digging into his Christmas pudding, Conte might be silently hoping that game delivers a six-goal thriller that ends in a draw, with perhaps a red card or two thrown in to further derail his competitors’ hopes of catching up with his Blues this season. That would be a positive note to usher in the New Year.
“And it was all yellow”
Coldplay’s hit track ‘Yellow’ is probably the in-track right now in the Chelsea locker room. Diego Costa is already going to miss the Bournemouth game on Boxing Day, so is N’Golo Kante. That’s what five yellow cards gets you. It could get worse though as three more Chelsea players are one yellow away from a suspension and they have two games to play before the December 31st amnesty rescinds it.
Pedro, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic need to be careful to avoid picking up another one for not only will it mean a missed game, but also some choice Italian words and festive seasoning.