This year’s biggest disappointment in the Premier League has to be Chelsea. The Blues are the same amount of points away from relegation as they are from top 4. Ever since new owner Todd Boehly took over, it’s been nothing but negativity. The club has spent a lot of money, but the product on the pitch has been very poor. In what has been a very competitive season so far in the Premier League, qualifying for Europe looks very slim.
The first (and biggest) mistake
Sacking Thomas Tuchel started this entire fiasco. Tuchel had 10 points from six games in the EPL, with one loss through one game in the Champions League. Not great at all from Chelsea’s standard, but it’s been worse with Graham Potter. Tuchel knew this system, they were just going through a rough patch. The new Chelsea board didn’t want to waste any time, and decided to show the world that they were messing around. They made a bone-headed decision to part ways with Thomas Tuchel, and hire Brighton’s manager, Graham Potter. Potter had the Seagulls up into the top 4 at the time, so he was a nice prospect for this team. That being said, by no means should it have justified firing Tuchel. The man won them a Champions League just a couple of years ago, he knows what he’s doing.
Other than a 2-0 victory against last place AFC Bournemouth, Chelsea haven’t won a Premier League game since October 16. Yes, that’s how bad Chelsea have performed this season in the EPL. Even though Chelsea have been dealing with an outrageous number of injuries, they still have depth good enough to win a few games, you’d think. Instead, Potter has averaged under 1.5 points this year (through all competitions). This team can’t attack clinically, they fail to create quality chances against the weakest of defenses. They rank 12th in chances created. On top of this, Potter has been given all the money to get players to help win games, but no results have shown for it. He continues to get embarrassed night after night.
The signings
It seems like Chelsea truly have an unlimited amount of money. A positive thing for the club through this rough stretch is that the board have done a great job at hijacking deals to sign some of the world’s most promising talents. As stated earlier however, those names haven’t exactly led to wins. They lost one of the top full backs in Europe, Antonio Rudiger, to Real Madrid. In replacement, they brought in Brighton full back Marc Cucurella. Cucurella got off to a bright start, but has since been a disappointment. Raheem Sterling hasn’t been able to stay fit, Aubameyang has fallen off a cliff since his nice start, and the list goes on and on.
After spending over €355 million on transfers, the future for this time looked bright. Close to none of those transfers have really flourished in this system, they’ve all regressed if anything from performances at their previous club. All together, it just hasn’t been a good fit.
What’s going to be the end result?
I don’t think there’s a chance Chelsea F.C. end this season with silverware. They are just lost. On top of that, the Premier League has been incredibly competitive so far. The Blue sit at 25 points,10 behind a place for the Champions League. It surely seems like Arsenal, Manchester United, and Manchester City are a lock for the top 4. To add onto that, Newcastle United have been playing really well, currently in the top 4. Tottenham haven’t been playing great, but they’ve been good enough to sustain a top 5 place so far. That 5th place spot for Europa might even be a reach for Chelsea. Liverpool are still in the race, Brighton and Brentford have been playing solid, and even Fulham. With the way that this season has gone, I don’t see Chelsea finishing in the top 5. They may be able to make Conference League, but that’s about it.
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