Chelsea are looking good to wrap up not only the Premier League crown, but they could win the Champions League based on the squad that they have, one man has been incredible for the club since he joined them this season and that is Cesc Fabregas, the former Barcelona player has been on a roll since he joined Chelsea but he seems to be struggling from the New Year.
Fabregas has looked a little tired from his outings in the league and cup competitions post January and it could be a factor of not having a proper winter break, like he had in Spain, coming to affect the player, although he did not face similar breaks when he was playing for Arsenal before his time at Barcelona. He might just need a little break so that he can recharge his batteries and start firing on all cylinders again.
Fabregas feels the Christmas Blues
IF we compare Fabregas’ stats before January and after January this season, it will be quite a shocker for most people. The goals have completely dried up for Cesc, he might have only scored two goals all season but both goals came early on in the season and he has not found the net post-January.
He was labelled as the creative force for Chelsea when he was creating assists left, right and centre for the Blues, in fact Cesc started the season with a bang with 6 assists in 4 games and he has provided 15 assists this season but his last assist came in January, against Swansea, post that he has not been able to help with a goal.
If we look at the per game average stats, Fabregas seems to be less involved in the game when compared to his run before January. He used to have 104 touches per game early on but now only gets around 98 touches per game, which is a slightly lower number than expected, especially in this tough run in.
His passes per game have also reduced with 79 passes per game compared to the 87 he used to do for the Blues earlier in the season but the most hard hitting fact is the number of minutes per key pass. Before January, it took Cesc just 26 minutes per key pass but not it takes him close to 43 minutes (almost an entire half of football) before he can create a key pass for a team mate.
His successful crossing percentage has also gone down from 24% to 17% after January and that will be a bit of a worry for Chelsea fans as the team has relied on him massively this season but he is a champion player and knows how to deal with adversity, plus he also has Jose Mourinho by his side, who will ensure that his star player does not wither down but comes back stronger in the remaining games of the season.