Chelsea’s defensive frailty under Xabi Alonso has been laid bare in numbers, as the Blues are 18th or lower in five key Premier League statistics. In their first five league matches, the West London side have conceded 12 goals, conceding at least twice in every match.
According to Sky Sports, Chelsea concede an average of 10.4 shots inside their own penalty area per game, with 6.4 of them on target. They concede 2.2 expected goals on target per game, the same as their non-penalty goals against, which ranks 19th in the league. That similarity suggests that the Blues’ porousness is structural, and not a product of bad luck.
The latest evidence came on Friday when Brentford beat Chelsea 3-0 at the Gtech Community Stadium to leave the Blues without a league win in three games. Jaidon Anthony, Igor Thiago and substitute Fabio Carvalho all scored in a ruthless second half that exposed the visitors’ vulnerabilities at set pieces and in transition.
Chelsea had 59% of the ball but lost the expected goals battle 2.65 to 0.82. The Bees created four big chances to Chelsea’s one chance, while Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 system had just two shots on target all night.
Chelsea are now without a clean sheet in 22 Premier League games, and this malaise is not down to the appointment of Xabi Alonso. They have conceded 12 league goals this season, four of them from set pieces, a long-standing problem despite the presence of set-piece coach Austin MacPhee. Alonso is only the sixth manager in Opta’s Premier League history to see his team concede two goals or more in each of his first five games in the competition.
Chelsea, who sit 10th in the table, will use the international break to recalibrate before they face Bournemouth on October 10. The return of influential midfielder Moises Caicedo is expected to bring some much-needed equilibrium to a precariously imbalanced structure.
Gary Cahill urges patience as Chelsea manager fights defensive crisis
Former Chelsea captain Gary Cahill has urged patience with Xabi Alonso as the Spaniard faces a worryingly brittle rearguard at Stamford Bridge. The former England centre-back gave his verdict to Sky Sports after Friday’s chastening capitulation at Brentford.
Alonso is the fourth manager to take charge of Chelsea in nine months. The former Real Madrid boss named a starting XI that included seven summer signings against the Bees, which reveals the size of his ongoing rebuilding job. Cahill told Sky Sports:
“It doesn’t happen overnight. I think with what you’re saying he will be judged in the next five, six, seven weeks to get this right because you will have that time on the training ground and then we should start to see his methods coming through because we’ve seen him in an attacking sense.”
The next few weeks will be a crucial time for Alonso’s fledgling project in West London, and Cahill’s comments have made it doubly so. The Spaniard’s attacking stamp is already evident, but a cohesive defensive blueprint is still glaringly absent.