Chelsea welcome Everton to Stamford Bridge on Saturday with two consecutive league wins under their belt after just two wins in their previous 15 games, so have the Blues finally clicked?
Is the recent uptick in form a sign that their extraordinary team rotation is starting to come together, or are the wins against relegation-threatened Leeds and Leicester too small a sampling to raise expectations so early in their run? project?
Rumors abounded that Graham Potter’s spell at Chelsea would be short-lived if his team lost at home to Leeds earlier in the month: a narrow 1-0 home win preceded further victories against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and a first Premier League away win since mid-October at the King Power Stadium last Saturday.
Six of Chelsea’s starting eleven at Leicester have joined since Todd Boehly bought the club and sanctioned a £600m spending spree on 18 players in the last two transfer windows, a record single-season spend for part of any club in history. Sixteen of the 33 players Chelsea have used in all competitions this season have made their debuts this season.
Chelsea and Potter have had little room for maneuver as the former Brighton head coach tries to assemble his best team from a team that is still getting to know each other. They have made 21 more changes to their Premier League starting eleven this season than any other team, while only Nottingham Forest have used more players.
Substantial transfer fees inevitably attract the expectation of instant results. Arsenal came close to signing Mykhailo Mudryk in January before Chelsea’s late intervention, signing experienced Premier League forward Leandro Trossard instead, for less than a third of the fee.
Saturday, March 18, 5:00 p.m.
Start 5:30 p.m.
Mudryk recorded his first Premier League goal involvement last weekend. The next day, Trossard’s assists hat-trick means he’s now averaging a goal or assist every 65 minutes since he joined the league leaders.
It should come as no surprise that the Belgian, who does not need an adjustment period, has started to run faster than a 22-year-old who still has single digits of career league goals. Naturally, the transfer fees for both will dominate any comparison.
The club’s six high-profile January signings have featured at least three times since joining, with Joao Félix and Enzo Fernández now regular elements in the starting eleven. But two of their most established players could ensure Chelsea’s recent progress is sustained in the closing months of the season.
Reece James and Ben Chilwell have started just seven of Chelsea’s 64 Premier League games together since the start of the 2021/22 season. The last time both started in the league at Stamford Bridge was in November 2021.
The Blues are significantly stronger with their first-choice full-backs in the starters: since the start of last season, Chelsea’s winning percentage has increased by more than 25 per cent and they score more goals and concede fewer with England internationals in their alignment. .
Chelsea’s only Premier League defeat with James and Chilwell starting in that spell was a 2-0 loss to Tottenham last month, and both were still in top form after their most recent injury setbacks.
Having a fully-fit James and Chilwell to choose from each week could be instrumental to Potter’s success this season. Chelsea have used a 3-4-3 formation in each of their last three wins, doing so for the first time in the Premier League or Champions League since their appointment. They have won all three league games this season by starting with that system.
Chelsea’s extravagant spending means they will find themselves under the microscope more than any other team as they continue to find their footing under a new owner, head coach and playing staff. The only way they’ll survive such scrutiny is by winning games, something they’ve started to do well of late.
They started March with just one win from 11 games in all competitions, so they are well aware of how quickly things can change.
