A scratch of the eyebrow. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. This, Todd Boehly, who on Friday signed a contract to buy Chelsea, seemed to be acknowledging, is what sport can do. His prospective new side had been leading 2-0. They had seemed comfortable. It had seemed that those vague worries about Arsenal and Tottenham catching up would disappear as rapidly as the spring sunshine. But as Conor Coady headed an equaliser deep in injury time, the reality dawned: Chelsea, out of form and out of sorts, still face a major fight to secure their place in the top four.
Boehly’s purchase will go through so long as approval is granted by the Premier League and the UK government. The former should be a formality; the latter may be rather more complicated, if only for logistical reasons. Boehly was at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, sitting in a largely empty corporate box, although the chairman Bruce Buck joined him at half-time.
