Since winning the title four years ago, Chelsea have failed to mount any sort of a sustained title challenge. Start the season spectacularly, endure a mid-season slump, reset expectations, barely match those expectations. This has been the theme for almost all of Chelsea’s seasons since their 2017 triumph.
Just take a look at last season for example. After beating Leeds United at the start of December, Chelsea briefly went top of the table. That had pundits predicting a three-way title race between Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool. And while Liverpool and Spurs too failed to push on from there, for Chelsea, it was a sense of Déjà vu. In the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, something similar had happened.
This season also, the same trend looks to be continuing, though it’s still early days. Chelsea are sitting at the top of the table and are many people’s choice for finishing as champions. They simply have to buck the trend of the past seasons this time, because things are different now. Chelsea have considerably closed the gap to Liverpool and Manchester City, and are the European champions of course. With the signing of Romelu Lukaku, they have filled in the only gaping hole in their team. Unlike Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri, Thomas Tuchel can’t complain about the mentality of his players.
Simply put, Chelsea do not have any excuses to deliver another underwhelming season. Since winning their last Premier League title, the closest Chelsea have finished to the champions is 19 points (that was last season). They haven’t scored more than 69 goals in any of those seasons, and haven’t lost fewer than 8 games in any of those seasons. Those numbers make for abysmal reading and do not reflect the explosive start they make.
Chelsea have closed the gap on paper, now they have to do it on the field
I’m not saying Chelsea should win the title, and that it would be a big disappointment if they don’t. It will be incredibly hard to finish above Liverpool and/or Man City, but at least Chelsea can finish close to them, if not above them. Although Chelsea have managed top four finishes, they were never in the title race. There’s a difference between finishing third, just behind the top two and finishing third, just above the rest. Chelsea have been doing the latter, it’s time for them to do the former.
Take the 2013/14 season as an example. It was a thrilling three-way race between Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea. While Chelsea were never anyone’s favorites to win the title, they came pretty close. They finished third, just four points behind champions City. Compare this to 2018/19, when Chelsea again finished third, behind the same teams. The difference? Chelsea finished 25 points behind Liverpool in second. There’s a difference in the two third placed finishes.
The good news for Chelsea is that they’ve weathered the early storm pretty well. Out of four games against the traditional Big Six, they have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 1, although critics might say that they failed to win against either of their main title rivals. With those four games out of the way, Chelsea are still top and have a favorable run of fixtures ahead, on paper anyway.
In their next five fixtures, Chelsea don’t face any Big Six side. Man City face one, Liverpool two, and Manchester United three. Chelsea’s immediate rivals play against each other in the next month or so, so this is a golden opportunity for them to pull clear of their rivals. We have seen it before at Chelsea that past accomplishments count for little, if you don’t deliver constantly. Thomas Tuchel must be fully aware of this. If he has plans of building an empire at Chelsea, he must keep winning those big trophies.