Sadly, the European soccer season draws to a close in the coming weeks.

Chelsea has to be one of the biggest surprises, for me at least. With Mourinho and a cast of thousands coming to Stamford Bridge this season I expected them to take more time to gel. When you think about what the Portugese did with his time and money compared to his predecessor Ranieri… I knew they’d be in the top three, suspected they’d be in the top two, and wouldn’t have been too surprised to hear they’d won the league; but to do it in such a convincing fashion, beating Man Utd’s EPL point total record and nearly matching Arse’s unbeaten record, it’s pretty amazing. John Terry has already said next year’s goal is an undefeated season. Considering the way they turned over Man Utd the other night and look to finish a full ten or eleven points over the runners-up, who’s to argue? I’m glad they got knocked out of the FA Cup and Champions League, though.

Speaking of surprises, Liverpool’s performance in the Champs League is even more unexpected. The fact they got past Juventus still boggles the mind. Knocking out Leverkusen, okay, but Juve? And then Chelsea? They’re likely to finish 40 points behind the Blues in the league. How’d that happen?

Well, with good defense basically. Which means the final with AC Milan will probably be dull, dull, dull. Liverpool needs to win just to have a chance of competing in the tournament next year (it’s disgusting to think that the cup holder doesn’t necessarily get free passage into the next year’s competition when all the second-placed teams in leagues around Europe do). Both sides will be ultracautious and we might end up with a 0-0 draw and penalties, a la the all-Italian snorefest a few years back. For all the glitter and glam surrounding the tournament the final usually disappoints.

And finally, we’ll see how my powers of prognostication fare. On 4/26 I wrote:

In my heart, I know Spurs will go 1-1-1 in these games to finish with 52 points and in 9th place…

As of today, Spurs have won one and lost one, and they’re in ninth place on 51 points with virtually nothing to play for on Saturday. It’s mathematically possible for them to finish in that seventh spot which would get them into Europe but it would mean both Man City and Boro would have to lose and Spurs would have to win by two clear goals. I can’t decide whether I’d rather have them win or whether I’d rather have them draw this weekend just so I was right…