5 Things you need to know about Chelsea ahead of the Premier League season
Next up for our previews for the Premier League is Chelsea who are heading into the 26/27 season under Xabi Alonso, last season was a complete disaster from start to finish for Chelsea with Enzo Marseca having his side relatively close to the top of the table up until December when suddenly on the 1st of January he stepped down from his role as manager. We later found out it was because he was in talks to take over at Man City post-Guardiola but his exit sparked a steep decline down the table under the new manager Liam Rosenior, the Englishman was only in charge 105 days and was dismissed after a run of five consecutive defeats in the Premier League without scoring a goal. Callum McFarlane took interim charge for the last month leading the team into an FA cup final which they lost 1-0 to Man City, a tumultuous season to say the least but there is plenty of optimism for for the future under a top quality manager that knows how to win titles as the underdog.
What’s Chelsea’s transfer window looked like so far? As always Chelsea have been busy in the window bringing in Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa, Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace, Marco Palestra from Atalanta at wing-back, Geovany Quenda from Sporting Lisbon who was signed last season but is joining up with the team for this season, Valentin Barco from Strasbourg who is a versatile player who can play full-back and in midfield, Pep Chavarria from Rayo Vallecano who is also a full-back, Emmanuel Emegha from Strasbourg to strengthen the striking options, then two names we all know well who are Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson who add some much needed experience to a young squad. There’s no shortage of outgoings either with Andre Santos going to Man United, Marc Cucurella going to Real Madrid, Trevor Chalobah heading to Como, Tyrique George moving permanently to Everton after spending last season there on loan whilst Alejandro Garnacho has gone to Aston Villa on loan. I would imagine that there will be more incomings and outgoings before the end of the window but it does look like Enzo Fernandez will be staying which is a surprise, Liam Delap will most likely be leaving with Como and a few Premier League clubs sniffing around so watch this space around him. Do Chelsea need anyone else before the start of the season? I don’t think so.
What has Chelsea’s pre-season looked like so far? Chelsea kicked off their pre-season tour with a 6-4 win over Western Sydney Wanderers with a hat-trick from Joao Pedro along with goals from Gittens, Essugo and Satpaev. Next up came a 2-1 loss to Spurs with Estevao scoring Chelsea’s only goal of the game despite Spurs going down to 10-men in the 49th minute, after that came a 1-0 defeat to Juventus where we saw the return of Mykhailo Mudryk for the first time in two years in a pretty poor game overall. Next up came a 3-0 win over AC Milan with Joao Pedro bagging a brace with Moises Caicedo adding a third with a lovely volley from outside the box, it was the first time we saw Xabi Alonso deploy a back-3 in pre-season and it worked an absolute treat so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not Alonso sticks with it for the start of the Premier League season. The next day we saw some of the younger players draw 3-3 with Johor Darul Ta’zim with Liam Delap scoring two penalties before a late own-goal saved a draw for Chelsea, they play Real Sociedad later on today before kicking off the Premier League season against Fulham next week.
Who are the players to watch for Chelsea this season? The first player I want to touch on is Cole Palmer who had a terrible season last year albeit under three different managers and I want to see a lot more from him this year under Xabi Alonso, I suspect this system will be perfect for him as one of the right 10s with Morgan Rogers to the left and Joao Pedro down the middle. Another player to watch this season is Nicholas Jackson, I’ve always been a fan of Jackson and I think he brings qualities that no other player has in the Chelsea squad which is why Alonso has opted to keep him in the team. I suspect he’ll play a bigger part in Chelsea’s season than most are anticipating, throughout pre-season we’ve seen Joao Pedro on the score-sheet multiple times and I predict he’s going to have a monster season this year under Xabi Alonso. The same goes for the likes of Estevao, Palestra etc who have all had good pre-seasons and will be fighting for a starting place in the Premier League with Chelsea having no European football this season.
Predictions for Chelsea this season? With no European football I think Chelsea have to at least be making the Champions league places this season along with fighting for both cups, there are a few people predicting a title challenge but I think it’s a bit early in Xabi Alonso’s first season to be fighting for the title. It’s been a while since Chelsea won either of the domestic cups so I think finishing in the top 4/5 along with winning a trophy would be a very successful first season for Xabi Alonso, can Chelsea challenge for the league this year? I don’t think so.