The Blues are in the midst of a five-game winless run in the Premier League, and now face a fight to secure a top-four finish once again
One month ago, Chelsea were but a couple of points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool. There was talk of the Blues making a surprise run for the title, a far cry from pre-season predictions suggesting they would be fortunate to even qualify for Europe again.
The noises out of Stamford Bridge were defiant. Head coach Enzo Maresca and many, many members of his first-team squad made sure to let the world know Chelsea definitely were not in a title race. Actions speak louder than words though, and following a run of five league games without a win – draws with Everton, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth to go with losses to Fulham and Ipswich – they have been proven correct. This won’t be their year after all.
When Chelsea had ascended to second in the standings, it didn’t feel flukey. They were there on merit following some impressive performances through the autumn, and though they didn’t beat either of the experienced and genuine title contenders in Liverpool and Arsenal, they still went toe-to-toe with the pair of them.
With Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham floundering, Chelsea looked near-certainties to reach the Champions League, but now face a battle to finish in the top four. Their season is unravelling as quickly as it showed promise.
Warning signs from the start
Chelsea knew what they were getting into when they hired a relative rookie head coach in Maresca – a fabulous tactical mind nurtured by Pep Guardiola with strong potential as a top-level manager, but someone who would need time to iron out his own kinks, let alone those of his young squad. The decision to hand him a five-year contract – with the option for a further 12 months, because why the hell not at this point – was recognition this was a long-term commitment after Mauricio Pochettino’s sole season of building foundations and trimming an infamously bloated squad.
Maresca had managed just one complete season at senior level prior to his move to west London, guiding title-favourites Leicester to first place in the 2023-24 Championship. That’s pretty much the most he could have achieved at the King Power Stadium, but there were red flags flown regardless. The Foxes sprinted to 13 wins from their opening 14 games and were well on pace to break the division’s points record, only to slump throughout the winter and open up the title race to Ipswich and Leeds.
The Italian was accused of being one-dimensional in his philosophy, and he frequently clashed with supporters over his patient style of football. Even though this didn’t really matter come the end of the season, it was probably as far away from rosy as it ought to have been for the Championship’s most-expensive squad.
Defensive instability
Maresca inherited a Chelsea team which shipped goals at an alarming rate last season (63 in 38 Premier League games, to be precise), but with one crucial difference – they had lost their only senior leader in Thiago Silva. The veteran Brazilian was on the decline, yet still proved a powerful voice in the dressing room and on the pitch. What was left for Maresca was an assortment of good-not-great options.
Take Levi Colwill, for example. He’s only 21 and a full England international, another shining success of the Cobham academy system and someone who should be at Stamford Bridge for another decade. At this point, he’s only a decent defender, but one tasked with leading in central areas. Colwill forged a fine partnership with Wesley Fofana, but the Frenchman now faces months of the sidelines with another major injury. Even Fofana comes back, he sadly can’t be considered a reliable member of the first XI, such is his history on the treatment table.
In his place has stepped summer signing Tosin Adarabioyo, who at 27 has taken on Silva’s role in the make-up of the squad and dressing room. The problem with that is he is nowhere near as good or experienced as his accomplished predecessor.
Behind an ever-changing defence is Robert Sanchez, a goalkeeper who was quickly dropped by Pochettino last term yet has managed to claw his way back into the fold, with Filip Jorgensen unable to displace him since arriving from Villarreal. To add further sting, Chelsea’s BlueCo owners let the standout Premier League goalkeeper this season, Matz Sels of Nottingham Forest, walk away from sister club Strasbourg after six years with the French club to a divisional rival.
A solid defence needs both quality and cohesion. Ultimately, Chelsea do not have enough of either to sustain a title push.
Squad harmony at risk
Having successfully and simply navigated the first phase of this season’s Conference League, Maresca was hailed for effectively dividing his huge squad into two teams; one for competing in the Premier League, and one for their European exploits.
There was always a danger of this coming back to bite them though, and it will not be a sustainable plan for the rest of the season. It’s already been reported the likes of Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall aren’t too pleased with being stuck in the ‘B’ side and starting only intermittently against far lesser opposition.
For whatever reason, Maresca still doesn’t trust most of this changed team in Premier League action. He has faced criticism for continually waiting until the very latter stages of games to turn to his bench and allowing his starting line up to become leggy, in turn giving the opposition a physical advantage in second halves. This vicious cycle is a major part of their recent downfall. Too long does Maresca wait to freshen things up, too late it is to stem the tide.
The most notorious instance came in their Boxing Day defeat to Fulham. Chelsea cruised through the first half after Cole Palmer put them ahead, but lost control of the game when Marco Silva emptied his bench, with two substitutes, Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz, scoring in the 82nd and 95th minutes, respectively. Maresca, on the other hand, made only one change, bringing off Nicolas Jackson for a far less physical No.9 in Nkunku.
Fatigue is natural and a given, especially in an age of the jam-packed football calendar, yet Chelsea do not seem to have gained much of an advantage for their mass rotation from weekends to midweeks. It still shouldn’t be this easy to overrun them down the stretch regardless of whether Maresca calls for subs or not. With another half of the season still to play, this is increasingly alarming.
Transfer chaos is back
Winning cures everything in football, and in the case of Chelsea, their first half to the season went some way to changing the narrative on their often scattergun transfer plans. Maresca building two teams parallel to each other added further gloss to the blueprint.
Their rut is not down to this approach, but it is providing an uncomfortable backdrop all the same. Nkunku, whose time at the club has been hampered by various injuries and a lack of consistent chances, is widely reported to be considering a move to Bayern Munich, and Chelsea won’t stand in his way if their fair market valuation is met. That they have even set an asking price and broadcasted it to the world screams of impatience over one of the squad’s most gifted and talented players.
Meanwhile, Trevoh Chalobah – who was essentially exiled from first-team training over the summer – has been recalled from his season-long loan at Crystal Palace to provide further depth in defence, with Eagles boss Oliver Glasner bemoaning of how uncertain the situation was over the last week. For all of Chelsea’s directors, scouts and complexity in their recruitment setup, there still feels an amateurishness about their business. With results toiling, they need more stability and reassurance rather than a return to their unpredictable default.
Young and naive
The simplest answer behind Chelsea’s malaise is they are still a youthful team with a relatively youthful manager guiding them. They are far from the finished product and will undoubtedly need to take some bruising in order to grow.
Even their best players are victim to this. Palmer, now one of the Premier League’s leading names and best players, keeps conjuring magic again and again and again, though is equally guilty of drifting through games when under the cosh. His partnership with Jackson – they’ve combined for a league-high 12 goals since the start of 2023-24 – is on track to become one of the most fruitful in Premier League history, let alone the modern day, but even that still requires some fine-tuning. The Senegal striker’s wastefulness has crept back into his game following a hot start to the season, and his inability to score at crucial junctures is usually what prevents his side from building unassailable leads.
There is a need for some of these players to mature quicker than expected. South American duo Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez have been handed the captain’s armband in the absence of the perennially-injured Reece James, and the aforementioned Colwill is having to step up into a role years beyond his actual experience. Marc Cucurella being among the most successful and dominant voices in the squad speaks some volumes even in spite of his admirable redemption arc.
Maresca claimed his side were unable to beat Bournemouth on Tuesday because their heads dropped after conceding a penalty at the start of the second half, which wasn’t the first time they have responded poorly to setback. That’s the sort of emotional immaturity that’s nearly certain to creep in with a team constructed in this adolescent fashion, though the head coach could also do a better job of adapting his game plan to deal with this appropriately, rather than watch as his team sink and struggle.
As with Maresca himself, the Chelsea faithful have to accept that this is who their current heroes are. They can be a special team one day, but need to go through a few more trials and tribulations before they’re the real deal.
Race is on
A surge in form from the teams beneath them has come at the worst possible time for Chelsea, who head into the weekend sat in fifth place, a point adrift of Newcastle and only two ahead of crisis club Manchester City. Surprise package Nottingham Forest are showing few signs of slowing down, to complicate matters further.
Chelsea have avoided PSR sanctions from the Premier League on this occasion, though they would be far more comfortable in that regard if they had the lavish finances of Champions League football to fall back on. Given BlueCo have already spent in surplus of £1bn since taking the reins in 2022, the public inquiry will only open again if another season goes by without qualifying for Europe’s elite club competition.
The club have put this pressure upon themselves, and now it’s up to Maresca and his charges to live up to the billing. They all knew of these consequences when they signed up for this project, and now they are staring in the face of scrutiny. Everyone in that dressing room needs to grow up at a quicker rate to avoid the backlash.
