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Michael Owen believes Manchester City’s win over Chelsea yesterday could end up being significant in this season’s Premier League title race because it shows Thomas Tuchel’s side can be beaten.
Chelsea had made a superb start to the season, following on from their Champions League success under Tuchel last term, with many fans and pundits already having them down as the clear favourites for this season’s title.
Still, Owen believes City’s win at Stamford Bridge could be key in making other teams view Chelsea differently, and perhaps play with less fear against them.
The Blues were not only beaten by City, but were distinctly second-best throughout the match as they lacked any real spark going forward.
Owen now feels it’s clear it’s going to be a very close title race, rather than Chelsea or any other team running away with it, like we’ve seen a few times with City and Liverpool in recent years.
“Manchester City’s win does wonders for them but I don’t think they will ever believe they can’t win a match because they’re such a talented team,” Owen told Premier League productions, as quoted by the Metro.
“What it does do is breath a sigh of relief for the rest of the league because everyone has been thinking, “wow, this new Chelsea team look unbelievable… how can we beat them? How do we score against them?”
“There’s been a feeling over the last week or two and everyone was saying Chelsea would win the league. But things change, Man City and Liverpool will play them and things will change.
“At the time if you put a gun to my head and asked me who would win it I would have said the same thing: Chelsea.
“Everyone was swaying towards Chelsea. Now I think people will realise everyone is still beatable.
“This is going to be an unbelievable title race, no one is going to run away with it. Man City, the reigning champions, have just gone to champions-elect Chelsea and not only won, but outplayed them.
“So I think people will have a new opinion now, some people will still think Chelsea and they’ve got a great chance, but I just think a lot of people were getting carried away with Chelsea. It shows they are human after all.”