Can Sarri’s Chelsea rise to the occasion against the best of the Premier League?
By Dan Voicescu
Chelsea’s form has dropped off after a fast start. Can Maurizio Sarri’s side rebound against Manchester City?
Following an embarrassing 3-1 defeat against Tottenham, Chelsea bounced back with two shutout wins and kept a clean sheet for the first half of their midweek game at Wolves. It was starting to look like the much-maligned Chelsea back line was figuring things out.
A strong back four (or three) has always been a staple of Chelsea’s success, going back to the glory days of John Terry and William Carvalho. Of the current backline, however, Cesar Azpilicueta is the only one who still inspires confidence with his defending, and his influence has been limited by his move to right-back.
Although Chelsea have invested heavily in the spine of their defense, it looks like neither Antonio Rudiger nor the mistake-prone Andreas Christensen can live up to the standards set by their predecessors. The return of David Luiz hasn’t exactly been a resounding success either.
Saturday’s game against Manchester City will be a much tougher test for the defense, one of only a handful of moments of truth Maurizio Sarri and his men will face this season, absent as they are from the Champions League.
Having failed their test against Tottenham a fortnight ago, they’re looking like a team who have been figured out by their opponents after a fast start that saw them beat Arsenal and draw against Liverpool and Manchester United (if drawing against United means anything anymore).
Tottenham’s game plan seemed to be to stifle Jorginho at the base of Chelsea’s midfield. The former Napoli man is the conductor of Sarri’s orchestra. Stop him, and you are well positioned for success.
Once the novelty of a new formation wears off, it’s only a level of flawless execution that can bring about success in the Premier League. Safe to say Chelsea have been anything but flawless over the past three weeks.
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Sarri may still have a few aces up his sleeve, such as the resurgent Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who scored against Wolves and seems determined to work his way into the starting lineup, and Jorginho, who was rested mid-week and is still adjusting to the rigors of the Premier League.
But in the end, it’s the lack of production from Sarri’s strikers, Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud, that’s starting to plague Chelsea. The two have only combined for six goals so far this season, which is simply not enough for the Blues to challenge for a title.
To add to the scoring woes, Eden Hazard hasn’t found the back of the net in the Premier League since early October. The defensive lapses combined with the lack of production from the team’s big guns are all troubling signs for a team that’s still adjusting to a new system. It’s even more troubling for a team that looked like a potential title-challenger at the start of the season.
Given the strength of the teams at the top of the table, there’s no shame in only challenging for the top four in the first season under a new manager, but Chelsea’s fast start had raised expectations. After a galling few weeks, a loss against the Manchester City juggernaut feels like it will decisively lower them once again.