On Saturday, Chelsea went on another great spree. A 2-0 loss at home to Brentford made matters worse for the men in blue from London
Chelsea is now a full 11 points behind fourth place, which allows them to play in the Champions League next season.
Pal Andre Helland, Viaplay’s Premier League expert, believes the performance itself wasn’t too bad
– In terms of play, they were often the better team. That should be a consolation. Sooner or later, they have to turn their chances into goals, because they can’t continue like this forever, Helland tells Netafsen.
Struggling to register
Helland points out that a big part of the problem is efficiency.
– They create a lot of scoring chances, and they should score more. It depends on the quality of those who finish.
Premier League expert Niels Johan Semp agrees.
– I expected more points. However, they were poorly paid. They have been absolutely dominant in terms of play, as was the case against Brentford this weekend. They should have been up by two goals at half time.
– They could have easily got another six or seven points and it would have looked good.
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Semp also believes the key to the blue team’s problems lies in the striker position.
– There are very few goals at Chelsea. They lack a clear goalscorer and this has been their problem for a long time.
More than ten billion kroner were spent
Many have been surprised by Chelsea’s activity in the transfer market. The list of new players is long, and the sums of money are huge.
– It’s weird. They found a loophole in the rules of financial fair play. It seems as if they will change entire generations in the blink of an eye. Helland explains that there are no ideal conditions to build a club.
This summer, Chelsea spent £468m, and last season they spent £611m. This is equivalent to NOK 12.8 billion today. The two biggest signings are midfielders Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez.
– They did not defend the total, although they are both good players. You can see that Enzo Fernandes is a good footballer, but his goalscoring rate and influence on the team was below all criticism. It’s expensive, it has to be said, Helland stresses.
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Chelsea also bought attacking players Nicholas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku this summer. The latter suffered an injury in the pre-season and has not yet returned.
– They haven’t had any luck with Nkunku, and it will be interesting to see what he can contribute when he returns. Jackson also has many good qualities, but I saw right away that he is not a notorious goalscorer. At least not yet, Semp says.
– How can they spend so much money and not have a really good striker?
– No, I think that’s strange. They have spent a lot of money on some midfielders who have fairly similar roles. Then I wonder a little what the thinking is behind it. “It’s a bit annoying, but maybe it’s a bit usual for Chelsea,” he answers.
Sit safe – for now
Chelsea is a club where managers are historically replaced once results fail. Helland still believes Pochettino’s project is not in danger yet.
– I think they decided to go ahead with this project, but of course everything has limits to pain, Hyland explains.
“They are not good enough to be able to compete for the title, but I think they are using this season to lead the team to be ready for next year,” he says.
Hiland doesn’t have much confidence that Chelsea will be able to manage an important top-four spot.
– Yes, it will be difficult. Five clubs have more than two points on average and show no signs of weakness.
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Don’t believe in Manchester United either
It is also believed that Manchester United will not be able to qualify for the Champions League next season.
– In terms of performance, I’m more worried about Manchester United. “They got more points, but they were almost the weaker team in all the matches,” he says.
– Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are much better than Manchester United. As if night and day were between them. Aston Villa is the “dark horse” and Newcastle started. All of these are better than Manchester United as of today.
Chelsea faces another difficult match in the next round. League leaders Tottenham then await at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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