Chelsea are still in the hunt for Champions League places and having a positive season overall, even if they haven’t quite shown the same growth in 2025/26 and even had to fire Enzo Maresca after his promising start to the campaign.
But if new manager Liam Rosenior can continue to get the best out of Premier League Player of the Season caliber playmaker Cole Palmer, the Blues should be able to soak up more Champions League football and maybe even tease title contention at the end of the campaign.
Here is a ranking of the five best Chelsea players of the Premier League season so far, using analytics from WhoScored, SofaScore, and FBRef.com.
5. CB Wesley Fofana
Estevao Willian and even fellow center back Trevoh Chalobah were tough snubs, but Estevao is still a way’s away from being a crucial, top-five player for Chelsea every week whlie Fofana, despite not starting the season due to injury, has been an even better player in direct comparison at center back than Chalobah.
Fofana just needs to be healthy. When he’s on the pitch, he is a fantastic center back and starting to show the ability that made him a Real Madrid transfer target in the 2021/22 season before his devastating injury.
4. RB Reece James
Captain Reece James is quietly back to his best for Chelsea. He has been excellent this season as a creator and a defender, and you can count on one hand the number of two-way ball winners, ball progressors, and technicians at the right back position who are as prolific as the England international.
3. CF Joao Pedro
If we are taking into account all-around play at the position, Brazilian center forward Joao Pedro has been the best of the new striker signings in the Premier League, with all due respect to overhated rival Viktor Gyokeres and the sensational Hugo Ekitike over at Anfield.
Pedro had a bit of a blip at one point, but when he gets to play in conjunction with other attacking players, especially the team’s main superstar Palmer, then he really blossoms.
He has scored a team high 11 goals this season with 4 assists and 1.5 fouls drawn per game. His hold-up play and finishing ability are both massively underrated.
2. DM Enzo Fernandez
There are even some Chelsea fans who don’t fully appreciate Enzo Fernandez, which is a shame since he is the most unique goal-scoring weapon in the deep-lying portions of midfield out of everyone in world football with eight goals to prove it.
Literally every other big club, Real Madrid included, would do just about anything to land a player like Enzo. His ball-striking, defensive quality, technical ability as a passer, and work in drawing fouls all make him a world-class footballer.
1. DM Moises Caicedo
Yet the best defensive midfielder and best overall player on Chelsea is an honor that belongs to none other than Ecuadorian international Moises Caicedo, who is disgustingly underrated by all other fanbases in world football besides Chelsea’s.
His numbers this season are astonishing. Caicedo, at age 24, is averaging 3.0 tackles and 2.1 interceptions per game with nearly two fouls drawn per match in midfield, completing 92 percent of his 60 passes per game. He’s the perfect No. 6 for Chelsea next to Enzo and gives Enzo the license to score.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.