Premier League Preview 2019-20: Chelsea FC
Chelsea Football Club
Credit: Chelsea FC
2018-19 Premier League Finish: 3rd place
2019-20 Premier League Prediction: It pains me to say this but 6th place
Transfers In:
Mateo Kovacic MF - Real Madrid £40,500,000
(Chelsea is currently serving a transfer ban and were only able to sign Kovacic because he was already on loan at Chelsea before the ban took place)
Transfers Out:
Eden Hazard FW - Real Madrid £90,000,000 (what a steal at £90 mil for Real Madrid)
Ola Aina DF - Torino £9,000,000
Tomas Kalas DF - Bristol City £8,100,000
Eduardo GK - Braga, Free Agent
Gary Cahill DF - Free Agent
Robert Green GK - Retired
Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea. Disclosure: I’m a big Chelsea fan but I’ll try not to be too biased. What can you say, the club will now have had a different coach in the last 3 seasons. Antonio Conte lasted just 2 seasons at the helm despite winning the Premier League in 2016/17 and then winning the FA Cup the following season. Based off results, Conte should have stayed. But based off his clear and apparent dislike of the Chelsea board, the club moved on. Maurizio Sarri managed Chelsea to a 3rd place finish, which was a miracle, and won the Europa League. He didn’t even get a 2nd season. Sarri continued to play questionable line-ups throughout the season and when the going got tough, refused to move an inch away from his formation and the line-up he preferred even if that meant playing guys out of position. Again, based off results he shouldn’t have been fired. But also much like Conte, he was incredibly stubborn.
Frank Lampard
Credit: Metro
So now here we are, with the greatest player in Chelsea Football Club history, Frank Lampard, now in charge. We all knew this day was coming but nobody would have saw it coming this quick. Lampard’s final season as a professional player was in 2016 and last year was his first season as a coach. Lampard guided Derby County to a top 6 finish in the Championship and narrowly missed out on promotion via the playoff when they lost the final to Aston Villa. But, when Chelsea decided to go it’s separate ways with Sarri, Lampard quickly jumped to the top of the list of potential replacements, despite his inexperience. I think we all wanted this as Chelsea fans, just not this soon. Worst case scenario, this team could finish around 8th or 9th. Losing Eden Hazard, who is a top 5 player in the world, is obviously a huge loss so it will be interesting to see how we do without him. Best case scenario for this team, and that’s if all our youth players who are finally going to get a chance play do well, Chelsea could probably reach as high as 3rd. One good thing about Lampard coming in at this point in time is that I believe the transfer ban will give him more time than had there been no ban. Lamps already has a built in excuse if things don’t great so hopefully that will be enough to get him through this year and into the next, because I really want him to succeed as coach.
Strength:
Kante & Jorginho
Credit: Football London
I debated between the midfield and goalkeeping, but I’m going to give the edge to midfield. Granted I think that Kepa Arrizabalaga can be the top goalie in the Premier League as early as this season. Chelsea’s midfield is full of class players and has very good depth as well. In the center midfield, Chelsea have Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic who will be sharing time. Hopefully Lampard goes with a 4-2-3-1 and these 3 guys can rotate in the 2 spots in the CM, also so that Kante doesn’t have to play out of position like he did all of last year. Kante is easily the best of these players, as a former Premier League player of the season, but last season was far from his best, He consistently had to play on the right side of the midfield and attack more than he’s use to or should have to. Kante is a defensive midfielder, kind of only makes sense to play him as such, but as I said earlier Sarri was stubborn. Jorginho is a passing wizard who also like to sit deep and pull all the strings. Kovacic is a great 3rd option to have in the midfield and has looked great so far in pre-season pairing with Jorginho since Kante is injured. A center midfield of those three rivals any in the Premier League.
Weakness:
Tammy Abraham
Credit: TalkSport
The biggest weakness in this squad is the attack but also probably the biggest question mark. After Chelsea’s failure to sign a true #1 striker since Conte pissed off Diego Costa and sold him(oh how I miss Diego Costa and his attitude), the team’s attack has been in limbo ever since. The club’s record signing, Morata, didn’t work out and he’s out on loan at Madrid. Higuain was brought in for a few months but Chelsea denied to extend his loan or sign permanently. This leaves Chelsea with Olivier Giroud, Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham going into this year. Now when I said that the attack was a question mark, I basically meant one guy. We know exactly what we are getting from Olivier Giroud. He’s a good striker, but not a great one. Giroud is the perfect guy to have as a second choice striker and coming off the bench to score goals. Batshuayi is a guy who’s been in and out of the Chelsea team before and has been out on a handful of loans. In my opinion, Batshuayi is a lot like Giroud in the fact that I don’t ever see him establishing himself as a top tier striker. Lastly we have the big question mark. Tammy Abraham came up through the Chelsea academy and is finally going to get his shot with the senior squad. Abraham has spent the last few seasons out on loan where he has impressed. Last year he scored 25 goals in the Championship and was a big help in getting Aston Villa promoted. But is he going to be able to translate that into the Premier League? One of these strikers having a breakthrough season is going to determine how far up in the table Chelsea finish.
Top Goalscorer Predictions:
Tammy Abraham: 13 goals
Christian Pulisic: 8 goals
Olivier Giroud: 7 goals
Home Kit: As a Chelsea fan, this home kit is absolutely horrible. I would be somewhat okay with this weird, watermark design of a kit if it was an alternate, but to slap that on the home jersey is kind of a disgrace. The one thing I do like, the red strip on the back of the neck.
Away Kit: Complete opposite of the home jersey. Up until this point I would say that Arsenal’s home jersey has been the best so far but I believe this jersey takes the cake. This away jersey is all class. The blue and red stripe on the collar and sleeve, make this kit. Perfect
Credit: Evening Standard