Football Season Guide

Chelsea

In


Kai Havertz (mid) Bayer Leverkusen; Malang Sarr (def) Nice; Thiago Silva (def) PSG; Ben Chilwell (def) Leicester; Hakim Ziyech (mid) Ajax; Timo Werner (att) RB Leipzig; Ethan Ampadu (def) RB Leipzig – end of loan; Davide Zappacosta (def) Roma – end of loan; Abdul Baba (def) Mallorca – end of loan; Victor Moses (mid) Inter – end of loan; Danny Drinkwater (mid) Aston Villa – end of loan; Tiemoue Bakayoko (mid) Monaco – end of loan; Charly Musonda (mid) Vitesse – end of loan; Kenedy (mid) Getafe – end of loan;

Out


Willian (r) (mid) Arsenal; Pedro (sp) (att) released; Alvaro Morata (sp) (att) Atletico Madrid – loan made permanent; Mario Pasalic (mid) Atalanta – loan made permanent; Nathan (mid) Atletico Mineiro – loan made permanent;

Chelsea had a relatively good first season under Lampard, who proved very good at developing young talents from the Academy while Chelsea were banned to sign players. Defensively there were unresolved issues all season, though, and this is an area that Lampard seemed unable to sort out, Chelsea failed to keep a clean sheet on the road all season! Chelsea are the big spenders of the off-season with already 5 major transfers completed and at least 1 more well down the pipeline, but yet to be officially confirmed. The arrivals of Silva, Chilwell, Ziyech, Havertz and Werner guarantee even better displays next season. If, as expected, 1-2 other stars arrive Chelsea promise to have not just a lethal starting XI, but also the strength in depth to deal with a busy schedule. Right now it seems that at least 3 of the newcomers will be regular starters, while Pulisic is gearing up for big things in his second year at the club. He finished the previous campaign in hot form. It seems that the most used shape will be 4-3-3 with the front line Pulisic-Werner-Ziyech promising to challenge Liverpool’s Fab Three (Salah-Firmino-Mane) in terms of efficiency and goals scored. The firepower up front makes Chelsea’s forward actions arguably their biggest strength and it seems almost certain that the Blues will be amongst the highest scoring sides in the league this term. Probably the main weakness is coach Lampard. His inexperience, strange tactics and choices in many games last season cost precious points. Lampard is still learning the tricks of the job and, even with fewer mistakes from his part expected, he’s still likely to make some.

Target


Heavy strengthening in off-season means that top 3 finish is a must. Not likely to be good enough to challenge for the title, but shouldn’t have problems staying in the top 4.