Chelsea are currently on tour in the United States to play in pre-season friendlies. They lost 4-1 to Scottish side Celtic in their most recent fixture, thereby raising eyebrows with regard to their preparation for the upcoming season, which gets underway on 17th August.
The Blues finished 6th last season in the Premier League table, which was quite decent considering the fact that they had to endure a very disappointing first half of the season. Despite the positive final stretch, Mauricio Pochettino was sacked at the end of the season and Enzo Maresca was appointed the club’s new coach.
High Spending, Undesirable Results
Chelsea have been very extravagant during the last couple of seasons as far as their spendings on new players are concerned. They spent over 100 million pounds each on Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo and almost 90 million pounds on Mykhailo Mudryk.
Moreover, Nicolas Jackson, their new striker, was also quite average in his debut season for the Blues. He scored 17 goals in 44 matches last season, which isn’t bad return for a young striker. However, those figures could have been significantly higher had he been able to convert most of the chances that came his way.
Romeo Lavia, another expensive acquisition, spent most of the time sidelined with injury last season, but is expected to play a crucial role this season. Despite Lavia’s importance to the team, the amount of money that was spent on a number of holding midfielders is mind-blowing.
The Blues will again be heavily reliant on Cole Palmer, who was by far their best player last season. Raheem Sterling will also be expected to do well on the wing. Palmer is one of the most promising young players in England and Sterling is a proven performer at the top level.
Chelsea have an unproven defence, with veteran centre-back Thiago Silva leaving the club and academy product Trevoh Chalobah out of the ownership’s future plans. Tosin Adarabioyo is the only new addition to the back line. The Blues’ defensive performance was very poor in the first half of the season last year and the club management would not want a repeat of that this year.
A Difficult Start to the Season
Chelsea will play their first Premier League of the season against champions Manchester City on Sunday, 18th August. Maresca could not have asked for a more difficult start to their league campaign. Should the London side be able to get at least a point from that match, it will boost their confidence considerably.
Chelsea have got an unconvincing recent record against the Sky Blues and it will be a test of their character against the English champions. Most of Chelsea’s youngsters will have to perform well to justify the huge amount of money splashed on them by the BlueCo ownership consortium. It remains to be seen whether Chelsea are able to improve in the upcoming season and seriously challenge for a top four spot in the league table, which would guarantee Champions League football after a three-year absence.
Main Image: “Chelsea!!” by Angelo Romano via Flickr