Has Chelsea lost the ‘favourite’ tag already?

One game of the season done and the cracks are already showing, pundits are going crazy and fans fear the worst. Normally this would have been about how poor one team has been throughout the season and are doomed for failure, this time around however, it is related to Chelsea and their ill-fated start to the Premier League campaign.

No defensive stability, Swansea’s wingers tearing them to shreds. No rock solid goalkeeping ability, Courtois flapping away and getting sent off for bringing down Bafetimbi Gomis and to top it all off, Chelsea were a whisker away from actually losing the game. The Blues were average against a brilliant Swansea side and they need to take a good hard look at themselves if they are to retain the crown.

Keep the Blue flag flying high!

It wasn’t as bad as some people made it out to be, Chelsea didn’t lose the game and holding on to a 2-2 draw against a team in the ascendency when you are down to 10 men would be a creditable result. The underlying issue here is, Chelsea had the better players and were expected to sweep away their opponents from Wales. Chelsea did shade the possession stats and had the same number of shots off target, Swansea though had the greater number of shots on target with their 8 overwhelming Chelsea’s three.

“That is not how games should take place at the Bridge!” most fans and supporters would say but this is testament to how strong the Premier League is, after all Swansea did sign Andre Ayew, one of the top players from Ligue 1 and he scored against Chelsea to equalise for Swansea. The problem, which almost everyone has spoken about Chelsea this season has been the lack of players coming into the club.

 

There always has been talk about freshness required in a team, you need to bring in competition for places or even just freshen up the squad. Chelsea have done neither, while they have brought in Begovic to replace Cech and Falcao to provide some cover and competition to Diego Costa, the team is largely the same as last season. They have gotten rid of a few players, Filipe Luis being one of them but if we look away from the first team regulars, where is the spark and drive from the Chelsea team?

Falcao, Cuadrado, Mikel and Zouma, to name a few will not strike fear into any team, while Mourinho will do his best to extract the most from the players, he must know deep inside that this squad is a little too familiar to his team from last season, while that may not be the worst thing in the world, new faces in a team provides a lot of freshness for the season.

Many predicted that Chelsea are favourites to retain their crown and that wouldn’t be the worst assumption made, they do have one of the best coaches in the world, they have one of the best squads in England and have a few players who can change the game with a moment of brilliance. However, Arsenal and Manchester United have spent more or building their team, Arsenal to be honest need to have all their players fit for the entire season, the two clubs in Red actually have a better chance of winning the league purely on the strength of their team of 22 and not 18. This is where Chelsea lack and that could be their undoing this season.