Is Chelsea's season at risk of unravelling?

Karan Ahgun

— 3 min read
Is Chelsea's season at risk of unravelling?
Photo by Simon Reza / Unsplash

After being knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton last weekend, Chelsea face the Seagulls once again on Friday night in the Premier League as they bid to rediscover their early season form to ensure that they finish in a Champions League position at the end of this season. The Blues face going into a prolonged period without a recognised striker due to the injuries of Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu, so the fans will be hoping that other players begin to step up.

Chelsea won't be winning a domestic trophy again this season, and their FA Cup exit was a massive disappointment for their fans. Despite missing a recognised striker, the Blues definitely had enough to create and score goals - especially when you consider the quality they had on the pitch. However, the attacking players did not step up in the Brighton game and as a result, the fans are beginning to question whether they can trust the players to deliver on a consistent basis. In the case of Cole Palmer, his performances have dipped this Chelsea's poor run started but he has credit in the bank, unlike the other attackers, from his high level performances last season and the start of this season. Chelsea are very reliant on Palmer to be their primary chance creator and as such, almost all of their attacks go through him. Players such as Pedro Neto, Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke need to be producing more output to help Chelsea come out of this slump. Between them, these 3 players have only score 11 goals in the Premier League whereas as Palmer has 14 by himself. It is clear that Palmer needs the help from his teammates to help Chelsea secure the Champions League place they should be aiming for.

Enzo Maresca had an amazing start to life at Chelsea. At one point, Chelsea were only a few points off Liverpool at the top of the table but Maresca made a point to downplay Chelsea's chances of winning the league this season. This mentality seeped through into his players, who also downplayed their chances. Today, Maresca has gone on record to say that getting Champions League football would be an overachievement and that his team are "ahead of schedule". These comments have frustrated Chelsea fans, who have been used to their managers and club executives aiming to win as much as possible. This has been a far cry to the openness with which Maresca was talking about Chelsea at the start of his tenure and now it feels as though he is a mouthpiece for the club's directors and is using press conferences and interviews to relay messages from the top to the fans. If Chelsea were to fail to get Champions League football, Maresca could be under pressure from the fans, especially as they were unable to win anything domestically.

So will Chelsea secure Champions League football for next season? They currently occupy the 4th place in the Premier League table, but are facing competition from in-form teams including Newcastle United and Bournemouth. Chelsea may be fortunate in that their is a greater likelihood of there being 5 Premier League teams in the Champions League next season but their downturn in form has put them into a real scrap that will likely go to the wire - as it does almost every season.

Read more