Chelsea need a major rethink if they are to stop Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham having the last laugh
Victory over Leicester would have put Chelsea in an even stronger position to secure a top-four finish but a 2-2 draw means they have now won just four of their last 13 league games
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No form of break has been so hotly debated since Ross’ actions ruined his chances with Rachel.
Jurgen Klopp’s insistence on not taking charge of Liverpool’s FA Cup replay during the Premier League’s upcoming two-week interlude has caused similar outrage, but one team very much with the do not disturb turned on, at the perfect time, is Chelsea.
Victory over Leicester on Saturday would really have put Chelsea in an even stronger position to secure a top-four finish – unthinkable to many at the start of the season – but a fortunate 2-2 draw means they have now won just four of their last 13 league games after a match that exposed the flaws in the Frank Lampard project, and with a Jose Mourinho revenge mission gathering pace across London, Chelsea’s season, having started so impressively, is in danger of coming to an unsavoury conclusion.
The first half at the King Power was a microcosm of Chelsea’s recent struggles. They dominated possession, played some nice football to the edge of Leicester’s penalty area, but they were let down by woeful finishing, poor decision making and wayward final passes.
Chelsea did eventually take the lead but needed a first goal since October 2018 from Antonio Rudiger, before two quick-fire Leicester strikes turned the match on its head.
Rudiger came to the rescue again with an even better header to level things up, but Leicester really should have won the match if Jonny Evans and Harvey Barnes had not suffered from their own bout of profligacy, letting a Chelsea side, very much on the slide, off the hook.
Worryingly, even at this stage in the season, Lampard does not trust his goalkeeper, having dropped Kepa Arrizabalaga in favour of 38-year-old Willy Caballero – the oldest player to take to a Premier League game this season. It is not that Kepa is making many glaring errors, he is just simply conceding from most of the shots that come his way – 23 goalkeepers have a better save percentage this season in the Premier League.
Chelsea have also struggled to get the best out of N’Golo Kante this season, with Lampard’s system not really best suited to Kante’s all action style of play. At Leicester, Lampard switched to a 4-2-3-1 and we saw glimpses of the old Kante, but whether Lampard will stick to such a formation remains to be seen.
Only Kante and Mason Mount, playing almost as a No 10, had shots at goal at the King Power, but that is nothing new. Chelsea’s forwards, especially Tammy Abraham, earlier in the season, were able to bail out their impotent midfielders time and again, but as the goals have dried up further forward, a lack of attacking intent from deep has become all too apparent – Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley and Jorginho have scored one league goal from open play all season.
And then we get to Chelsea’s strikeforce, or lack of it. The over-reliance on Abraham, a 22-year-old supposedly learning his trade in his first full season in the Chelsea first team, is potentially ruinous, exemplified by Lampard rushing a clearly a half-fit Abraham back to face Leicester.
“My ankle is still painful but sometimes as players you have to play through pain,” Abraham admitted after the game. “The medicine started to wear off in the second half but I will take this break to recover.
“The players we were talking about someone coming like Edinson Cavani and other top class strikers who have been around in the game for many years.
“It would have been nice if he had come.”
Nice does not quite cover it. With their transfer ban imposed for breaching rules on signing young players reduced, and Olivier Giroud with his bags packed by the door, ready to make room for a new striker at Stamford Bridge, a move Paris Saint-Germain’s Cavani, or anyone else for that matter, failed to materialise, and Giroud was forced to stay put.
That leaves a 33-year-old who does not want to be there, Michy Batshuayi, yet to start a league game, and Abraham playing through the pain. Even an Odion Ighalo would have done.
Willian has two league goals since the end of October and Mount is without a single strike since the start of December. American forward Christian Pulisic is goalless in the league since early November, and Callum Hudson-Odoi has one senior league goal to his name.
Many of their rivals are doing their best to gift Chelsea fourth spot, but one emboldened foe remains. One who would relish Chelsea not finishing in the top four more than actually finishing in the Champions League qualification places with his current employer. After a win against champions Manchester City, and with new signings to freshen things up, Tottenham could easily start to put a run together.
With all these issues to address this two week period to reassess, even without any games taking place, are as crucial as any for Lampard and his team, because if they continue to rely on one man for goals, keep picking the wrong final pass and Kepa cannot overcome his mid-season jitters, Mourinho is primed and ready to once again have the last laugh.
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