Owen runs his mouth
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:50 amEngland striker Michael Owen has backed Chelsea to win the Barclays Premiership title this season. The 25-year-old, who moved from Liverpool to Real Madrid earlier this season, believes Chelsea's tight defense makes them extremely difficult to beat.
"Chelsea are so strong at the back and have a good goalkeeper, you can't see them losing games,'' Owen said. `"You think the minimum they will get is a draw because they don't seem to concede. `"At this stage of the season they are favourites, scoring goals from all areas. They have not got a player to score 30 goals (in a season) but while they're all chipping in it's great for them. "The likes of John Terry and the goalkeeper (Petr Cech) are having storming season's from what I've seen on the television.''
Owen believes Chelsea's emergence has made this season's title race more exciting than previous years. "It's a fascinating race, far more fascinating than Spain with Barcelona 13 points ahead of us,'' he added.
"People say it (the title race) is all over with Chelsea, but Arsenal are a fantastic team and Manchester United look very strong at the moment. It looks to be between those three but the boys from across the park (Everton) are doing particularly well this year.''
Despite dropping to fifth in La Liga, Owen has impressed when he has appeared for the Spanish giants. The £8.5million signing has scored seven goals so far for his new club, most after coming off the bench as Ronaldo and Raul have claimed first-team places but failed to produce.
After fans initially criticised his signing, Owen is pleased to have won them over. "You've got to win them over because nobody can help you, you've got to play well and thankfully I have played well and the fans have taken to me,'' he told Sky Sports. "There's plenty left in the locker and I hope to keep performing for them.''
"Chelsea are so strong at the back and have a good goalkeeper, you can't see them losing games,'' Owen said. `"You think the minimum they will get is a draw because they don't seem to concede. `"At this stage of the season they are favourites, scoring goals from all areas. They have not got a player to score 30 goals (in a season) but while they're all chipping in it's great for them. "The likes of John Terry and the goalkeeper (Petr Cech) are having storming season's from what I've seen on the television.''
Owen believes Chelsea's emergence has made this season's title race more exciting than previous years. "It's a fascinating race, far more fascinating than Spain with Barcelona 13 points ahead of us,'' he added.
"People say it (the title race) is all over with Chelsea, but Arsenal are a fantastic team and Manchester United look very strong at the moment. It looks to be between those three but the boys from across the park (Everton) are doing particularly well this year.''
Despite dropping to fifth in La Liga, Owen has impressed when he has appeared for the Spanish giants. The £8.5million signing has scored seven goals so far for his new club, most after coming off the bench as Ronaldo and Raul have claimed first-team places but failed to produce.
After fans initially criticised his signing, Owen is pleased to have won them over. "You've got to win them over because nobody can help you, you've got to play well and thankfully I have played well and the fans have taken to me,'' he told Sky Sports. "There's plenty left in the locker and I hope to keep performing for them.''
