Charting Chelsea’s Long Season

Chelsea’s Europa League title success is just reward for a gruelling season that saw a surprise managerial change-around midway through the campaign and the club play in eight different competitions.

As we near the final day of the Premier League season, Blues fans can breathe a sigh of relief. They have won a trophy, qualified for the Champions League, and miraculously kept a squad together over 69 competitive fixtures.

Their only major downfall was in the Champions League, where Roberto Di Matteo failed to inspire the same guile and courage that steered the Blues to the final just a few months earlier, despite heavy support in the odds on Champions League.

Chelsea crashed out of a group they really should have won, coming third behind Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk. But Wednesday’s Europa triumph was adequate silver lining for that dark cloud on their season and at least they’ve earned a trophy – unlike Arsenal, Spurs, Manchester City, and Liverpool.

In the Premier League, the remit was to stay in the title race but Manchester United’s dominance meant that was impossible, so Rafael Benitez gets a B+ for finishing third (assuming they win on Sunday).

The League Cup was by no means a priority yet they still made the semi-finals: an achievement replicated in the FA Cup, where they came up against a City side desperate to make something of their own season.

Remember, Chelsea also had a jet-lagging trip to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup, which they lost in the final, suffered defeat in the UEFA Super Cup and lost a start-of-season Community Shield clash with City.

When the final whistle blows at Stamford Bridge this weekend, the Blues will have completed their 69th game of the season, almost fitting two Premier League campaigns into one.

The fact they continued to battle hard against Benfica right to the end is a credit to the coaching staff, Benitez, and the players themselves, who proved last season’s success was no fluke and that hard work really does pay off in the end.

Check out the End of Season Report on Betfair for more insight into the Blues’ most recent campaign.

Champions Across Europe

Last weekend saw a number of European football clubs crowned champions of their domestic leagues, securing historic titles and Champions League football for next season.

While the English and German title races ended long ago, there was still much to play for across the continent heading into the weekend. Here is a brief round-up of who those champions are:

Serie A – Juventus

It wasn’t the prettiest of games but Juventus did enough against Palermo to scrape to a 29^th Italian title and defend the trophy won last season. Arturo Vidal’s disputed penalty conversion was enough to see off Palermo and, with little competition for the Serie A title this season, fans placing a bet on football saw few rivals to Juve in the Italian league.

Juventus now have 11 more Italian league titles than any other club and look set to strengthen this summer.

Eredivisie – Ajax

A third successive Dutch title was secured at the weekend as Ajax punished Willem II Tilburg 5-0 to stay four points clear of PSV with one game remaining. In winning the title, boss, Frank de Boer, becomes the first manager to claim three successive Dutch championships.

It was Ajax’s 32^nd Eredivisie success and PSV need to find a gem or two in their youth set-up to challenge next season.

Super Lig – Galatasaray

Boasting Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder, and Felipe Melo in their ranks, Galatasaray surprised few football betting news pundits by winning the Turkish league title; a 4-2 victory over Sivasspor in Istanbul earned them a 19^th domestic championship.

Galatasaray impressed in the Champions League this season but are seeded in the third pot for the group stage in 2013/14, meaning they are likely to concentrate on winning the Super Lig again next term.

Superliga – FC Copenhagen

Copenhagen celebrated a 10^th league title on Sunday despite their 0-0 draw with city rivals, Brøndby. It was their third successive draw as they limped over the line with three games to spare after a spirited chase from FC Nordsjælland added false excitement to this foregone conclusion.

Copenhagen qualify for the Champions League group stage next season and, while unlikely to qualify out of their group, are a good outside shout to push far in the Europa League.

Why United's Title Procession is bad news for Wigan

Manchester United were able to reclaim the Premier League title this season with the minimum of fuss, easily seeing off the underwhelming challenge from last year's champions, Manchester City.

It has been a disappointing campaign in general for City, but they have a chance to redeem themselves somewhat when they tackle unfancied Wigan in the FA Cup final - and the Latics must surely be bracing themselves for an onslaught from a side desperate to prove they have what it takes to bounce back from this season's woes.

City were expected to build on last season's dramatic final-day league triumph by at least pushing United all the way for the top domestic prize this year, but their bid to defend the title fell way short and their campaign has petered out dismally in recent weeks.

Boss, Roberto Mancini, has bemoaned a lack of major summer signings as the main reason why their season has largely failed and, in particular, United being able to land Robin van Persie from Arsenal ahead of them, proved pivotal in the end.

However, City have shown glimpses of their old selves and their recent performances in wins over United at Old Trafford and against Chelsea in the Cup semi-final proved, on their day, they remain an outstanding side with some truly world-class talent in their ranks.

And, considering how the season has gone so far, that is why the Latics should be worried ahead of the Wembley showdown on May 11.

City simply must bring the FA Cup back to the Etihad for the second time in three years to salvage something from a season that has failed to live up to expectations.

Their woeful Champions League campaign, when they again failed to get past the group stage, coupled with their league disappointment, means an unthinkable defeat against huge outsiders in the FA Cup odds, Wigan, would render 2012-13 as a total disaster.

Wigan can offer some resistance in the final but, with City desperate to finish a poor season on a high, a convincing triumph for Roberto Mancini's men is expected.