The Champions of England hit another low as they lost at home to Bournemouth, Chelsea now sit 14th in the league with just 15 points from as many games, not the kind of performance they would have expected at the start of the season.
The club from London have only scored 17 times in the league campaign and the performances in the attack haven’t been mesmerising either.
The problem hasn’t just been at one end of the pitch, almost every single part of Chelsea’s play has been extremely poor or at least below par this season and the only way to turn this around is to fix the attack, easier said than done.
Bye bye, Costa but who steps up?
Diego Costa’s chapter at Chelsea seems to be done and dusted. The Spaniard does not seem to want to play at the levels he achieved last season and seems more like a divisive figure in the team rather than someone who galvanises the attack.
Dropping him from the team didn’t really work as Chelsea haven’t been able to score without him on the pitch but that should be the way ahead for Chelsea. The Blues did have 19 shots on goal against Bournemouth although they didn’t get many on target, they have to play with Eden Hazard as the striker or even give Pedro the role.
While the Belgian hasn’t hit the heights of last season, his movement is one of the important facets of his game which he can adapt for Chelsea’s attack. The defence stretching runs are important for Chelsea as Hazard’s pace can be a problem for most opponents. That paired with wingers such as Willian and Pedro would provide the passes to get them through to Hazard.
Willian’s form is the one bright spark this season for Chelsea and he has been excellent with his deliveries from dead balls. Free kicks are another region where Chelsea have scored most of their goals this season and that would be something that Jose Mourinho should work with. The height of Ivanovic, Cahill and Zouma could well hold an answer to the goal issues they have faced.
We can’t forget about the talent of Pedro, who could also play as the striker. He was one of those who scored for fun at Barcelona – well at least until Luis Suarez came to town – he was signed for getting something done on the pitch and instead of playing on the wings, Pedro could provide that goal scoring touch in the middle.
Jose Mourinho has got to get the forward line clicking, if he does, it could lead to a better performance in most games but it probably won’t be enough to save this wretched season for the Blues.