By Neel Shelat
Chelsea have had fairly an eventful couple of years. Regardless of spending billions of Euros beneath new possession, they spent nearly all of the final two seasons within the backside half of the Premier League desk and barely ever received near the highest 4.
Issues didn’t look to be altering this summer season both. The Blues spent near €250 million on switch charges alone to signal 11 gamers, including to an already-bloated squad. Because of this, they had been compelled to make some questionable gross sales like common captain Conor Gallagher’s transfer to Atlético Madrid and in addition the scramble to ship Raheem Sterling out on mortgage to Arsenal on deadline day.
In addition they made a training change in the summertime, bringing in Enzo Maresca after he led Leicester Metropolis to promotion from the Championship. There have been questions requested on the time about whether or not a coach with no prior top-flight expertise could be the suitable individual to steer such an unstable membership, however he has emphatically confirmed the doubters fallacious thus far.
Chelsea aren’t solely within the high 4 proper now, however they’re the closest challengers to Liverpool, a minimum of so far as the desk is worried. Naturally, there was numerous discuss of the Blues being potential title contenders this season, however they may but have some method to go earlier than reaching that degree.
Free-flowing assault
Chelsea’s assault has unquestionably been glorious thus far this season. They’re the highest scorers within the Premier League proper now with 35 targets in 15 matches and might boast of the best xG tally in addition.
As soon as once more, star attacker Cole Palmer has been the important thing to the Blues’ success. After registering 33 purpose involvements within the league final season, he’s at present among the many high three gamers within the division, each when it comes to targets and assists.
Palmer thrived in a reasonably free position given to him by earlier head coach Mauricio Pochettino, which Maresca has seemed to copy as finest as attainable in his extra structured system. Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation on paper, Chelsea transfer right into a 3-2-2-3 attacking construction on the ball as one full-back stays deep to kind a again three, the opposite inverts into midfield and the wingers keep absolutely excessive and vast. Relying on which full-back advances, Palmer drifts throughout to the other aspect as considered one of two efficient attacking midfielders. In that place, he has the liberty to float round or drop again within the half-space.
The younger Englishman has completed a wonderful job of taking advantage of this freedom. He likes to obtain the ball in probably the most harmful positions attainable, from the place he can utilise his glorious carrying capability to get ahead earlier than posing a multifaceted menace in and across the field. On this position, Palmer very a lot is the glue in Chelsea’s assault as he does an distinctive job of connecting the aspect and linking up along with his teammates apart from being able to make a telling affect all by himself.
Chelsea have struck a contented steadiness of their fashion of play which has helped them get probably the most out of Palmer and the opposite attackers. Though Maresca appreciated to regulate possession so far as attainable at Leicester, he realised the pitfalls of going too far on this route at Stamford Bridge. So, whereas his aspect do attempt to construct out from the again to a big extent, their attacking strategy is closely reliant on transitions.
Apparently, the Blues have managed to generate numerous transitions from build-up conditions. Proper from goalkeeper Robert Sánchez, they don’t have the very best ball gamers on the again. This lures opponents into urgent them excessive up the pitch so as to try to win the ball again in harmful positions, which is exactly what Tottenham did this weekend. Certainly, Chelsea can find yourself conceding some dangerous turnovers of their build-up, however the tradeoff is price it since their assault could be completely lethal in transition.
In addition to Palmer, striker Nicholas Jackson additionally thrives with house in behind, whereas wingers Pedro Neto and Noni Madueke additionally get pleasure from isolating and taking over defenders in transitional conditions. It must be no shock, then, that a few of Chelsea’s best possible attacking performances got here in such open video games.
On the flip aspect, this does imply that Chelsea might face some difficulties when opponents adapt to their strategy and begin defending deep as a substitute. Actually, the Blues have had a big majority of possession in 5 of the seven Premier League matches wherein they’ve scored lower than two targets, so others will certainly begin noticing this sample quickly.
Defensive deficiencies
No matter how properly Chelsea’s assault fares towards extra disciplined defences, their defence may be the largest holdback. Actually, they’ve overperformed probably the most on this respect relative to anticipated factors.
The Blues’ defence has points in numerous features. For one, their defensive block merely will not be stable sufficient with weaknesses each when it comes to personnel and coordination. Because of this, they’re nowhere close to the highest groups when it comes to xG conceded.
Chelsea’s attacking strategy additionally backfires to an extent on this respect, as their expansive construction within the opposition half leaves them prone to counterattacks. It additionally limits their capability to regulate matches with possession, making it way more troublesome for them to see out a win after taking the lead. Even when the scoreline is of their favour, the very best strategy for the Blues stays attempting to outscore their opponents. That’s the reason they’ve already been concerned in so many goalfests this season.
There doesn’t look like a fast repair for these points, they usually might solely be exacerbated if opponents handle to higher stifle their assault. So, although latest outcomes have been fairly spectacular, it’s maybe too quickly to contemplate Chelsea critical Premier League title contenders.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
You may comply with each sport from the Premier League on FotMob – with deep stats, xG, and gamers rankings. Obtain the free app right here.