Chelsea have taken only five points from their opening six Premier League games this season – their worst start to a campaign since 1978.
Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Aston Villa leaves them in 14th and extended their winless run to three games
Here the PA news agency looks at the reasons behind the west London club’s performance problems.
Is Mauricio Pochettino the right man?
Pochettino’s youthful Chelsea squad have experienced teething problems, with their only league win coming with a 3-0 victory over newly-promoted Luton. Their forwards have been wasteful in front of goal, with striker Nicolas Jackson missing seven big chances in six games with just a single goal to show for it. The Blues have shown signs of promise at times but individual errors and questionable changes to the formation will mount pressure on Pochettino, who is expected to perform after Chelsea’s £1 billion-plus transfer spree since May 2022.
How does Pochettino compare to other Chelsea managers?
Pochettino has struggled to improve a Chelsea slump that started under Graham Potter and continued during Frank Lampard’s woeful temporary return.
In Pochettino’s first six Premier League games the Blues have scored only five goals, winning once and losing three times. That is slightly better than Lampard’s second spell at the helm, which saw the Blues score seven goals and take four points in their first six games before finishing 12th.
Potter managed nine goals and 11 points in his first six games, while Thomas Tuchel – who won three trophies during his Stamford Bridge tenure – picked up 14 points in his first half a dozen Premier League fixtures. With a lack of goals holding Pochettino’s side back, the 51-year-old will hope that an increase in chances taken can turn the tide.
What about all the money they spent?
Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium forked out over £450 million on transfers this summer and have broken the British transfer record twice since January to land midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo. Caicedo has had a mixed start at Stamford Bridge after his £115 million move from Brighton. The Ecuador midfielder had a poor cameo on his debut against West Ham before he gave the ball away for Anthony Elanga’s second-half winner against Forest. Jackson is yet to live to up to his exciting first two games in blue and has missed golden chances which have cost Pochettino’s side. Fernandez, however, is the shining light in Chelsea’s midfield and has shown his quality on the ball.
Are injuries to blame?
Chelsea had 12 players missing through injury for last week’s 0-0 draw at Bournemouth, forcing Pochettino to rotate once again. Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia are yet to make their debuts for the club due to being sidelined and the exciting Carney Chukwuemeka’s knee injury at West Ham was more serious than what was first hoped. Suspensions picked up by Nicolas Jackson and Malo Gusto will add further problems for Pochettino when they face Fulham.
What’s next for Chelsea?
After hosting Brighton in the Carabao Cup and a west London derby at Craven Cottage, the Blues face a tough run that includes Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle in their next eight league games. They will need to find an upturn in form if they do no not want to slip further out of the race for European qualification for a second successive season.
Mosanya
485
£1 billion later ... Chelsea
mani2017
480
The problem with Chelsea was the instant overhaul rather than gradual overhaul. Again, it seems the owner has a vision different from that of the fans which is to enjoy their usual glory. Chelsea owners and management keep making mistakes. The approach or direction they have taken will take a long time to bring them to the glory days again. It takes time to tweak a team to be balanced and experienced to compete for trophies. Currently, the team is unbalanced and inexperienced. I honestly don’t know what the managers of the club are trying to do. For example, you buy young players with no EPL experience and later loan most of them out bcos you need players with EPL experience. What did they want from the onset when they were splashing money on new players.
Muted
408
I strongly believe Pochettino is the right man for this new project but two things are the cause of CFC plight at the moment,the list of injuries at CFC is overwhelming and this injuries has somewhat thwarted Pochettino plans he hard during preseason especially the injuries to the likes of Nkunku, James and Chukwuemeka who where impressive during the preseason then again come the recruitment team and Poche himself were naive for not signing a prolific/deadly striker to complement Nico Jackson, finally Pochettino playing some players out of their positions with the trust put in sterling too he seems to be let us down in games chances which could have been buried is easily missed. But beyond all this in all the matches we’ve played we’ve been the better side with the stats always showing,so our major problem is lack of goals .. we need to sign a deadly finisher ASAP .
steppenwolfxcity
412
bring back Lampard..he deserves a 3rd chance!!
Mosanya
389
If Chelsea do not score against Brighton on wednesday, they’ll have to select their goal of the month from training sessions (if they have scored one there).
tegastaunch
325
We need this formation when all players are all back from injury and fit, this will be wonderfully but the problem is that this fool won’t have a proper starting eleven and he’ll keep roating them with useless formations and no tactics, this formation right here is 4-3-3 while attacking and 4-4-2 while defending, this guy don’t have a mentality at all. On 4-3-3 while attacking, Nkunku should play the number ten role rotating everywhere, why Caciedo stay as 4 which is CDM, then Enzo 8 while be going forward to assist the wingers and the striker, while forming that three trio midfield, Mudryk should and Palmer should be on the wings, I mean at the very edge of the wings and watch what’ll happen.
FavourApura
256
the only problem I see with this Chelsea team is that they are afraid to take shots outside the box, you don't have to be with the goaly before you shoot, even palmer that used to shoot outside the box now for some reason he doesn't shoot anymore, on till they start taking their chances and shooting at goal there will be no GOALS, You can't be said to be possessing a game without someone shooting at some point it doesn't have to be Jackson alone, that is why he is always marked out of Games by opposition defenders.please everyone even defenders best start finding their shooting boots and fast, that is what will help them find the back of the net more often.I wonder 🤔 if they even do shooting practice