Even promising Chelsea must move forward to stand still

Chelsea have excessive expectations round them after an outstanding summer season, however no one is kind of certain the place they’ll find yourself this 12 months. Are they actually title contenders?

As we noticed final 12 months, they’ll beat anybody on their day, but additionally have susceptible durations in video games and in the middle of the season. Watching them is a bit like utilizing your Qbet bonus code to wager on the slots or roulette – a sport of probability.

The opening day summed all of it up. The hype had constructed round Enzo Maresca’s workforce following a powerful displaying on the finish of the season and thru the Membership World Cup, which they ended up profitable.

Excessive vitality wins in our two pleasant video games towards Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan had many followers and pundits satisfied that the Membership World Cup hangover wasn’t going to be as  unhealthy as thought.

The brand new signings all regarded nice, Maresca was into his second 12 months in cost, the harm state of affairs was principally good, it was a house sport… it was all lined up for the Blues to make a mark on the brand new season.

However, soccer being soccer, it was a 0-0 draw. A very boring one at that. A reminder that the summer season hype can solely inform you a lot, and that flashy new signings don’t all the time hit the bottom working.

It was additionally a reminder of the standard of the Premier League. “Crystal Palace” doesn’t have the identical cachet as a reputation Milan or Leverkusen, however they’re a extremely sturdy aspect with a lot of good gamers and a extremely good supervisor.

That’s true of nearly all of the Premier League – even the promoted groups look good this 12 months. There will likely be only a few straightforward video games, and even fewer video games that are straightforward to foretell.

Chelsea completed 4th final 12 months and can in fact wish to enhance on that – however in a 12 months the place lots of the high groups will likely be higher than final 12 months, that received’t be straightforward.

The problem of enjoying within the Champions League relatively than the Convention League will even change issues majorly. No extra resting eleven gamers in midweek. Some would say that ending fourth with that added problem could be a feat in itself.

It’s a extremely fascinating marketing campaign in prospect as Chelsea attempt to get again to the highest. Consistency would be the key, and this workforce, for all its expertise, continues to be very younger: consistency over the course of the entire season could also be simply what they lack.