What’s going on with Chelsea? While it doesn’t look like it, in many ways it is one of the best teams in the Premier League, its time is yet to come

Slowly, it’s like we’re getting used to Chelsea floundering in the middle of the table. Formerly one of England’s best sides, who dominated the Champions League back in 2020/21, now languish in 14th place with just one league win. What’s going on with the London club?

Quality on paper and on the pitch

If anyone has been spending in recent transfer windows, it has been Chelsea, whose new owner has spent more on reinforcements than some of the other top leagues. It’s just not showing in the table and everyone is starting to ask why?

The quality on paper is obvious, but what does Chelsea look like on the pitch? Only Manchester City (62.7%) have a higher ball possession figure than the Blues (67.2%). Likewise, the London outfit are the fifth most shot-shooting team in the current Premier League season, sending out an average of 15.2 shots per game. Mauricio Pochettino’s team is also third best in passing accuracy – 88.4%.

If we look at the xPTS table, we would find that Chelsea would be the fifth best team in the Premier League with 11 points, while Manchester City would be the best with 15 points.

Very low efficiency

From the above stats it looks as if we are looking at one of the best clubs of the current season, however why is Chelsea only 14th?

First and foremost, it’s down to really low efficiency. The team’s top scorer is currently Raheem Sterling with 2 goals. The English striker is playing very well under Pochettino, but he’s throwing away a bunch of chances that ultimately cost points.

Nicolas Jackson should be scoring goals regularly, but he has managed to score one single goal so far, several other chances were wasted by his teammate, who also failed to play a clear finish in a number of actions.

The others are just “sneaking in”. The Argentine coach must be looking forward to the return of Christopher Nkunku from the sack. The French forward is the player the Blues have been missing! With him, everything can turn 360 degrees.

Injuries

However, Nkunku is not the only player who is being couriered by the London team’s doctors. There are many more and of course, this is one of the things that mean the aforementioned 14th place in the table afterwards.

Young guns

No one can expect any immediate results from this team given the very little experience. The Blues are a very promising team for the future, but will the management have the much needed patience?

If so, I personally believe that Pochettino will sooner or later fine tune the team and everything will translate to the table. But it will all depend on the owner. But sacking the Argentine coach would probably be sheer folly, even given the above facts, but often a reality in the Premier League.

Source: xG, Premier League, Whoscored