Suddenly, Chelsea shows signs of life. Although in the Premier League there was a slight difference between Liverpool, City and Arsenal compared to the rest, as generally expected, Maresca’s team seems to be gaining momentum. There is no point in drawing global conclusions based on the seven rounds, but progress is worth noting. Especially if the team just took home two major awards in one month.
Cole Palmer was named September’s best player. The midfielder became the first poker author in the history of the Premier League. And in general he leads this championship in the “goal+pass” system (six goals and five assists). Haaland only has 10 goals and no assists. Palmer is remarkably consistent at Chelsea. If you look at the “goal + pass” statistics from the beginning of last season, he remains in first place even at such an impressive distance: 28 goals and 16 assists. He scores so many goals that his signature celebration has become a meme, taken up by players in other leagues.
Celebrating Cole Palmer
Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
And Marescu was officially recognized as best coach in September. With him, the team has three wins and a draw in a month (no one has four wins). Chelsea only lost points in the home match against Crystal Palace, where the guests were very lucky. In terms of chances created, the locals were much closer to victory. How Nkunku didn’t score at the end of the game is a complete mystery. On the other hand, it should be noted that in the match against Bournemouth Chelsea were downright lucky to take the three points.
Pochettino’s dismissal at the end of last season seemed doubtful. Overall, Chelsea lost its status within two years and became more difficult to attract a top manager. However, the arrival of Maresca, although it did not seem like an obvious option (he only worked with Parma in Serie B and with Leicester in the Championship), turned out to be a very good choice today. With the new coach, performance has improved overall.
Enzo Maresca
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
According to the results of seven rounds, Chelsea is fourth in the Premier League table and second in terms of expected goals (14.4 xG). Only Tottenham have more (14.8 xG). If we look at the difference between opportunities created and allowed, Chelsea remains in third place (+6.6 xGD). Only Tottenham (+6.7 xGD) and Liverpool (+8.6 xGD) have more. If we look at the expected points, Mareschi’s team is in second place. According to Opta, Chelsea are second only to Liverpool. However, it cannot be said that Londoners had a simpler calendar.
It is clear what Chelsea wants to play. The team strives to possess the ball and impose its football on the rival. He stubbornly comes out of defense from underneath and not through passes. In 77% of cases the goal kick is played inside the penalty area. This percentage is higher at the beginning of the season for only two teams: Southampton and Tottenham (84% each). This is especially significant compared to Arsenal (20%), who achieve results with a more pragmatic style. If we take the number of passes by the goalkeeper without taking into account goal kicks, then the Chelsea goalkeeper is also in the top 3:
347 – Mark Flekken (Brentford) 275 – André Onana (Manchester United) 273 – Robert Sánchez (Chelsea) 269 – Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham) 236 – Alison (Liverpool).
Roberto Sanchez
Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
If we highlight the players, in addition to Palmer and Sánchez, we must definitely mention Caicedo and Jackson. The defensive midfielder has become the man through whom Chelsea can afford to attack with more players. The Ecuadorian regularly stops his rivals’ counterattacks and in terms of blocked dribbles he is the leader this season among all Premier League players (19).
As for Jackson, his main problem remains execution. He was among the bottom four Premier League players in this indicator last season. In terms of expected goals, he should have scored 4.6 more goals (only Everton’s Calvert-Lewin, Tottenham’s Johnson and Liverpool’s Núñez were worse). In the summer, the transfer of Osimhen was discussed, but it was not possible to reach an agreement on the salary with the footballer – Jackson remained the main center forward. In this championship he has four goals with 5.2 xG. He is still missing, but, firstly, it is not so obvious yet, and secondly, he made four assists in seven rounds (there were five in the entire last season).
Nicholas Jackson and Cole Palmer celebrate a goal
Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
And the curious thing is that Chelsea have strengthened themselves by sending Benoit Badiashile to the bench. However, this is not even a joke. Without him, Chelsea’s center of defense actually looks more solid.
In recent years, Chelsea have been ridiculed for the number of players they have. Now at least you understand something of the basics. And if last season Chelsea used the most players per season among the top clubs (32 people), now this is not even close. For seven rounds, only 21 people took the field – this is less than most other Premier League teams. Here, of course, it is important that Chelsea’s injury epidemic is over. As of today, only Reece James is being treated, but this is his basic condition.
At the same time, Chelsea players do not have much work in European competitions. Although the club participates in the Conference League, the second team plays there. And that same Badiashile, and the substitute goalkeeper Jorgensen, and other reserves. Palmer is not even registered for this tournament. This is enough to beat Gent. The other rivals have an even lower club rating. Apparently, Chelsea will have no problems entering the top 8 teams on the League of Legends main stage.
Co-owners Boley and Eghbali are responsible for all the negativity at Chelsea. Although their differences can hardly be considered a positive factor. The team’s local progress occurs rather despite the clashes at the top. Chelsea remains a big drop in terms of results compared to the Abramovich era. But if we specifically take the new era, the results are the best in 28 months.
Chelsea’s next Premier League match will take place at Anfield. In the context of Liverpool, it will become clearer to what extent Maresca’s team deserves praise.
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