Before the final international break in October, it was still hard to predict Chelsea’s exact identity and potential level of success. Aside from the loss to Manchester City on the first weekend, the Premier League schedule had been comparatively benevolent, yet fourth position in the standings exceeded expectations. They cruised past West Ham and Brighton, had a gritty victory at Bournemouth, and had a crazy victory at Wolves. To keep hopes in check, there were also dismal home draws against Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, who ended up with just ten men.
The next four games were predicted at that point to provide a more accurate assessment of what seemed to be rapid progress under Enzo Maresca. For the first time since the conclusion of the 2021-2022 season, Chelsea moves up one slot to third place after that run, indicating that it is genuine.
‘The Maresca project is well under way’
Although the Maresca project is well along, there are still several areas that require improvement, most notably the defense, which has actually given up 13 goals thus far as opposed to 12 at this point last season. Chelsea has scored 21 goals, four more than they did after 11 games a year ago, and for the first time in at least two seasons, a definite plan is evident in the game. The only teams who have scored more than Chelsea are City, Spurs, and Brentford.
Maresca wants two players for every position, and his Premier League starting lineups frequently only change by one or two players, despite the squad depth—ludicrously demonstrated by the ‘B’ team’s 8-0 Conference League victory over Noah. The absence of injuries compared to the previous season has greatly helped with this, but the settled starting lineup and the Italian manager’s cool, collected, and uncomplicated manner also contribute to the atmosphere of relative stability at Stamford Bridge.
