After several complicated seasons, the London club sees the end of the tunnel and could once again claim a place in the “Big 4” of the English championship.
Are Chelsea back on the scene? The Blues have just won five consecutive victories in all competitions and the players all seem to agree with Enzo Maresca’s speech. After two struggling seasons, Chelsea finally seem to have come out of the tunnel and could play spoilsport for the Premier League title.
The last few seasons have been… chaotic to say the least in the south-west London suburbs. New owner, new coaches, and instability which is causing the Blues to plummet in the standings. Implausible transfer spending, a very young team with great potential but that is not enough in the Kingdom of England. Lack of experience plays a role and Chelsea become the laughing stock of the Premier League and a source of amusement for football fans, happy to see Todd Boehly’s club fail after spending almost a billion pounds on the three recent years.
The Twelve Labors of Enzo
When Enzo Maresca arrived as coach this summer, Chelsea fans were in despair. Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino have followed each other in the space of two years without having managed to right the boat that Thomas Tuchel left after a defeat in Zagreb in the Champions League at the start of the 2022-2023 financial year. And to think that this club won the C1 three years ago. It’s hard to believe it when you see the crossing of the desert that the Blues experienced.
The Italian coach, crowned with a victory in the Championship (second division, editor’s note) last season with Leicester, arrives in London having to make do with a very (not to say too much) strong squad of 41 players. A plethora of profiles that Maresca does not necessarily need, as was the case with Raheem Sterling. “ I try to be honest. I spoke with Raheem before the City game. I told him he was going to have a hard time getting playing time with us and here’s why. With Chilly (Ben Chilwell), he’s a lovely guy, but he’s going to struggle. For me, it’s not brutal, it’s just honest. I’m not saying Raheem isn’t a good player, but I prefer different types of wingers » declared the new Chelsea coach after the defeat against Manchester City (0-2) on the first day of the Premier League.
At the end of the summer transfer window, a good part of the cleaning is done but the squad remains quite substantial, which allows the transalpine technician not to use certain players, like Cole Palmer, in the group stage of the Europa Conference League.
Cole Palmer, the new London gem
What people don’t know about Maresca is that, like Mikel Arteta, he is a former assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. During his one-year stint in the SkyBlues U-23 team (2020-2021), the ex-player who played for Sevilla was able to meet a certain Cole Palmer. The English hopeful, who arrived in London in 2023, made an impression in his first season by finishing second in the league scorers’ standings with 22 units (all while also delivering 11 assists).
Enzo Maresca does everything not to wear out his jewel too much by making it blow as much as possible as is the case during European weeks. After finishing 6th in 2023-2024 after most of the season spent at the gates of the Top 10, Chelsea decided to be conquerors and no longer suffer. The Blues are back in the top 4 of the PL, which has not happened for almost two years. Best attack since the start of the championship, with a sparkling Cole Palmer who scored a quadruple in the last match (4-2), Chelsea intends to regain its place among the elite of the Kingdom of England. The season is still long, but all the signals are green to see the Londoners regain their past status.
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