Chelsea's impressive progress has fans dreaming of a first title since 2017
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By KIERAN GILL
Published: 21:00 EST, 5 December 2024 | Updated: 21:00 EST, 5 December 2024
It is practically a weekly feature of Enzo Maresca’s press conferences, us club correspondents taking it in turns to shake the Magic 8 Ball in the hope of a new answer to the question: are Chelsea in this season’s Premier League title race?
Maresca’s responses have been consistent: Do not count on it. My reply is no. Ask again later.
And ask we shall, because the 44-year-old Italian knows it is a discussion point which will stick around so long as his side carry on winning, as they did at Southampton on Wednesday night with ease.
Maresca can be convincing in his countering, claiming it is asking too much, too soon of the Premier League’s youngest team to suddenly overtake Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Cole Palmer is less subtle, simply rolling his eyes when the title race is raised in his company. Noni Madueke refuses to commit, saying: ‘We are up for it but whether we are in it or not is a different question. We are taking every game as it comes.’
But the 5-1 victory at St Mary’s Stadium felt significant as, for the first time since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover in May 2022, the visiting supporters left the ground singing: ‘We’ve got our Chelsea back.’
Here, Mail Sport runs through a few reasons why the Blues might — just might — be within their rights to dream of a first title since 2017.
Chelsea's squad have played down their chances of emerging as champions this season
Head coach Enzo Maresca insists it is too soon, but the Blues are seven points off top spot
THEY’VE GOT THE SQUAD... AND THE STRATEGIST
Maresca made seven changes at Southampton and, with Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku among those coming in from the cold, it was another indication of their strength in depth.
This is the product of a plan to construct a squad consisting of at least two players per position ahead of a potential 78-fixture season culminating in next summer’s Club World Cup.
It provides Maresca with options all over the pitch. Nicolas Jackson is overworked? Use Nkunku. Pedro Neto is injured? Try Felix. Madueke is struggling? Time for Jadon Sancho. Enzo Fernandez is faltering? Your turn, Romeo Lavia. Maresca has largely saved his widespread changes for the Conference League, with the Southampton game being the first time he has rotated his team in the Premier League, but it is working a treat.
It helps that Maresca is not wedded to a rigid philosophy, as the strategist tweaks his system week by week, depending on the strengths and weaknesses of Chelsea’s opponents.
That fluidity saw Moises Caicedo start at right back against Aston Villa last Sunday, for example, and he inverted into midfield in possession so Fernandez could push up to join Palmer in the pockets. Easy to say when the team are winning but, tactically speaking, the game being played by Maresca is much closer to 5D Chess than checkers.
The likes of Christopher Nkunku starting against Southampton showed the depth of the squad
Maresca is not wedded to a rigid philosophy and makes changes depending on their opponents
Moises Caicedo starting at right back against Aston Villa highlighted Maresca's tactical tweaks
YOUTHFUL IGNORANCE AND FEARLESSNESS
Here is a statistic for you — Chelsea’s starting line-up at Southampton was the oldest one they have had under Maresca and yet, with an average age of 24 years and 162 days, it was still the 14th youngest used by any club in the Premier League all season.
Even when Maresca turns to more experienced players, such as 27-year-old Tosin Adarabioyo, they remain a youthful ensemble. That is not necessarily a negative, of course; Chelsea believe it leaves them in the best position possible to dominate English football in the future. There is a fearlessness among their fledglings, particularly as no internal pressure is being placed on the group in response to them now sitting second in the table.
It is not only Maresca refusing to budge on what Chelsea can achieve this season. Mail Sport has been told that neither the owners, led by Behdad Eghbali, nor the sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, have altered the targets they set their new manager at the start of the season.
They were: to provide proof of progress, to introduce a new style of play and to challenge again for a place in the Champions League. That has not changed.
Nobody is discussing the title race at directorship or ownership level, we are assured, with the season barely a third of the way through and the squad still maturing.
Mail Sport has been told the owners, led by Behdad Eghbali, have changed this season's targets
Maresca's brief remains a new style of play and challenge for a spot in the Champions League
GOALS GALORE
So much for being ‘Cole Palmer FC’. No Premier League club has amassed a greater number of goalscorers than Chelsea, with Sancho their 15th of the season on Wednesday. He also became the 500th in the club’s lifetime. Whereas previously Chelsea were heavily reliant on 22-year-old Palmer, now they carry a collective threat.
Chelsea have already scored seven goals more this season than they did in the entirety of their dismal 2022-23 campaign, and are averaging a club-record 2.6 per game. If you want entertainment, you could do worse than source a ticket for Stamford Bridge.
Mail Sport pointed out to Maresca after the win at Southampton that Chelsea are now the Premier League’s top scorers. He responded by reminding us that only three clubs have conceded fewer goals than the Blues: Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, their next opponents on Sunday.
Nonetheless, Chelsea could do with tightening up at the back as they concede too many chances, and they will be tested now the injured Wesley Fofana is expected to miss the winter schedule.
There were no Cobham graduates in Chelsea’s line-up at Southampton; the first time that has happened in the Premier League since May 2023, 56 games ago. Levi Colwill was the only academy representative in the squad and is considered their top centre back — the club told Bayern Munich he was not for sale in the summer — so he will return to the team against Tottenham.
Palmer has continued to star for Chelsea but the Blues are no longer reliant on him for goals
Jadon Sancho became Chelsea's 15th goalscorer of the season when he netted against Saints
CRUMBLING CITY
Manchester City returned to winning ways on Wednesday, but there is a vulnerability about them, even if Maresca is playing down their demise out of respect for his old friend Pep Guardiola, with whom he regularly catches up on the phone.
City’s downward spiral has opened a door to someone new, with Liverpool seizing the chance as the Premier League’s pacesetters and Arsenal boosted by the return of Martin Odegaard. This season it does not seem anything like 100 points will be needed to secure the title.
Word is Chelsea will not take notice of the table until March at the earliest and, even then, when we ask Maresca for the umpteenth time at Cobham, he is bound to remind us who they still have to face — namely Arsenal away and Liverpool at home.
Understandable in a way, because it is much easier on his young team to think they are exceeding expectations rather than trying to live up to them. But if Chelsea can maintain the consistency of this charge, the Magic 8 Ball may soon be telling us the outlook is good.