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While there were several on-paper contenders for the EPL crowd as the 14-15 season kicked off, one thing which was not in doubt was that Chelsea had had the absolute best recruiting out of any of them, somehow picking up Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas with minimal trouble. And it really didn't take that long for that narrative to morph into that of the indomitable club, ready to conquer all with their irascible coach once more. Two weeks ago they went up 8pts on their closest "real" rival, City, and to hear some analyst there was risk of this turning into Bayern Munich-type triumph. But the Premier League is nothing if not fickle, and after the Blues got a not unlucky draw at Sunderland, the lead now stands at a more manageable 6 pts. Sure, if you look at Chelsea's 3-0 thumping of Spurs on Wednesday then the club barely flinched, but City meanwhile enjoyed their own juggernaut effort, their second in a row. One which coincidentally came against the same plucky Sunderland side which caused Chelsea so much trouble. This weekend's slate shouldn't change matters too much (though both teams, with Newcastle and Everton, will have to contend with a decent foe), but we might yet have us a title race. What that says about the league when a two-team race between two of the richest clubs in the world is cause for rejoice, is something to ponder at another point. West Ham and Swansea meet to see who can consolidate a top-5 place, Southampton get another big one as they host United, and Arsenal will travel to Stoke, where they have often mightily struggled.
Spain: after a week marred by the senseless death of a Depor fan, here's hoping the focus this week will be on more joyful events, like the Barcelona derby, which the Blaugrana will need to win if they are to keep pace with Real Madrid and their historic run of 16 straight wins.
Italy: they narrowly escaped with a victory against valiant Torino last week, thanks to some Pirlo magic, and this week get another rivalry game with lots of angst, as they go to Fiorentina, site of the thrilling 4-2 win by the boys in purple last year.
Germany: the Dortmund situation is getting uglier by the week, as they are now dead last in the league. Sure, that's only 10 pts below 4th place, but Klopp's gonna need his team to start accruing points quite soon if they want to start taking control of their tailspin.
France: PSG failed to take over the lead from Marseille this week when they drew at Lille, and remain 1pt back of their rivals from down south.
EPL Saturday 6 December 2014 7:45a Newcastle v Chelsea 10:00a Hull v West Brom 10:00a Liverpool v Sunderland 10:00a QPR v Burnley 10:00a Stoke v Arsenal 10:00a Spurs v Crystal Palace 12:30p Man City v Everton
Sunday 7 December 2014 8:30a West Ham v Swansea 11:00a Aston Villa v Leicester Monday 8 December 2014 3:00p Southampton v Man Utd ------------------------------ For the record, my teams: MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets
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