Very few top teams can actually be as bad as Chelsea are at the moment. The Blues recently suffered an ignominious 5-0 defeat at the hands of city-rivals Arsenal last in the Premier Leagur at the Emirates Stadium. They then drew 2-2 with Aston Villa. However, a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur improved their standing somewhat.
The Blues are currently eighth in the league table with 51 points in 34 matches. More importantly, they have lost 11 of those matches, which is a terrible record for a top club. They probably hit nadir with the crushing defeat against the Gunners, as Mauricio Pochettino will find it difficult to keep his job.
Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo Have Hardly Done Anything to Justify Their Signing Amount
Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo were signed for an amount of more than 100 million apiece. Thus, they are most expensive double-pivots any English team has this season. However, their performances have hardly been anything to write home about. Fernández was supposed to play the deep-lying playmaker’s role with a hard man like Caicedo by his side, but he has hardly been able to do that.
The situation has become so bad that Conor Gallagher has been switched to the role of a number 10 in Chelsea’s 4-2-3-1. Even on the defensive front, the performance of the holding midfielders of the Blues have been unsatisfactory. Arsenal repeatedly took shots at the Blues’ goal from the edge of Chelsea’s penalty box and also managed to score a few goals that way.
However, neither Fernández nor Caicedo were there to block the shots to shield their defenders. It was quite a disappointing sight to see their defence crumble in that manner. Fernández has not looked solid enough defensively and Caicedo’s positional sense has not been very good.
Other Teams Have Well-Performing Holding Midfielders
Arsenal have the combination of Declan Rice and Jorginho that has proved to be quite effective. Rice is one of the best players in the Premier League at the moment. Manchester City’s Rodri is also among the best in his position in the world, and has John Stones/Manuel Akanji for support. Even the under-performing Manchester United have experienced a breakthrough season for
Kobbie Mainoo, their young teenage sensation.
Liverpool’s Wataru Endō and Alexis Mac Allister are also quite a potent duo in their midfield. Both of them have contributed considerably to their team’s progress so far. Hence, the failure of Chelsea’s midfielders stick out like a sore thumb among the top teams in the Premier League. Pochettino will find it
difficult to retain his position unless the performance of his team’s midfield-duo improves drastically.
Chelsea Still Has a Couple of Tough Matches Left to Play
The Blues will still have to face West Ham and Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League. Both of them could potentially turn out to be tricky fixtures for them. Should they go on to lose both those matches, they might not even be able to finish inside the top half.
The hammer-blow against Arsenal is something Pochettino’s men will find it difficult to recover from. It remains to be seen whether they are able to do that. Given their current form, most of the watchers will be tempted to bet against them. They are already out of the FA Cup, so a decent finish in Premier League is the minimum their supporters will ask for.
