Can Eto'o defy odds and fire Chelsea to title

With the return of Jose Mourinho to Stamford Bridge, the atmosphere around Chelsea Football Club brightened like the sun coming out on a cloudy day. Then the signing of some quality players in addition to the strong and talented squad available to the special one made a lot of football experts install Chelsea as their favourites for the Premier League title.

The only reservation that most people had was in the striking department. Fernando Torres and Demba Ba were not seen as potent enough to really make Chelsea the team to beat, and Lukaku was promising but still young and raw. That is why Mourinho was so keen on signing Rooney from Manchester United, and when that didn’t happen, the boss made a late move to rescue Samuel Eto’o from Russia and his club Anzhi Makhachkala. I was on one of my favourite Bingo sites yesterday and started wondering about how the bookies viewed the arrival of Eto’o and whether they felt he was the man to complete the Chelsea jigsaw.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that the Cameroonian striker was at longer odds than Torres to be the top scorer in the Premier League. He may be 32-years old but that is nothing these days. He may not have been sparkling since leaving Inter Milan, but he probably found football in Russia no challenge at all. Remember that he took a pay cut to rejoin his old boss at Chelsea, so he obviously wants to make the most of the last years of his playing career.

When I saw that I could get just better than evens for Eto’o to score 13 or more in the Premier League, I could not resist. Only 13 goals? He could have that by Christmas with Hazard, Mata and Oscar behind him. If I lose this bet, I am sticking to bingo.