The reactions are coming in now from Chelsea’s performance in our 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
Love him or hate him, Matt Law of The Telegraph has made some interesting points in his review article today.
‘It used to be ‘Boring, Boring Arsenal’, but Chelsea are in danger of becoming the team to send supporters – particularly their travelling fans – to sleep,’ Law wrote.
‘Chelsea have not won away from home in the Premier League since a 4-3 thriller at Tottenham Hotspur on December 8 and the goals have dried up of late.
‘A blank at the Emirates means Enzo Maresca’s team have only scored three times in their last seven away games in the league, also failing to get on the scoresheet against Everton, Ipswich Town and Brighton and Hove Albion.’
And of course, Law is also right to highlight the injury issues we are facing, because of course it is a factor, but still shouldn’t be used as THE excuse. Injuries do not change style of play.
Law continued:
‘Part of the snoozefest can be traced back to injuries to striker Nicolas Jackson and winger Noni Madueke, while star man Cole Palmer was ruled out of the defeat at Arsenal with a muscle problem that is also expected to see him pull out of the England squad.
‘But Palmer had not scored for 10 games before his injury, Jackson was without a goal in eight and Madueke had netted twice in 12 matches.’
This is such a bad look.
Asked about the impact of missing Jackson, Palmer and Madueke, Chelsea head coach Maresca said: “It’s a huge difference if you think of the three players with most goals for us are Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke. Not one of them was on the pitch today.
“For two of them, they have already been out a long time, so it is normal that offensively we struggle a little bit, even if – until today – we are the second or the third best attacking team in the league. That means in any case we are doing well without those players, but we could do better with the players that are injured at the moment.”
Chelsea need to address this issue and come up with solutions if they want to qualify for the Champions League this season, which they do and is an absolute must.
