Premier League preview: Chelsea
At a club like Chelsea there are always expectations and there is always pressure and, following last season’s double-winning season, the forthcoming campaign promises to be one of the most demanding yet.
Carlo Ancelotti certainly has his work cut out to match last season’s fine achievements. Winning the Premier League title and the FA Cup in the same season is no mean feat; but the Blues were by far the best team in the country last year and thoroughly warranted their silverware.
Many pundits’ tip to retain the league trophy, Ancelotti’s men have surprisingly endured a difficult pre-season, losing four of their five matches, including the 3-1 defeat against rivals Manchester United in the FA Community Shield at Wembley last Sunday.
Advantage United? Well, that might be slightly too premature to say and, of course, little can be judged before the start of the Premier League season, but Chelsea looked a far cry from the team that swept aside all before them during the last campaign against the Red Devils.
At the end of last season, despite winning the double and scoring 103 league goals in the process, fears were voiced from the Stamford Bridge faithful over the average age of the Chelsea squad. The club’s key players: John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba are no spring chickens, and although they turned on the style last season, questions persist over whether they can really perform to such a high standard again this year.
The departures of Deco, Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack have certainly helped to bring the average age down a notch, but the showpiece signing the Chelsea fans had been hoping for this summer simply hasn’t arrived.
Liverpool’s Fernando Torres, AC Milan’s Alexandre Pato and Atlético Madrid’s Sergio Aguero were all linked with a big money move to west London but, with just days to go before the start of the new campaign, it seems likely that Yossi Benayoun and Benfica’s Ramires will remain the only big-name arrivals.
Their multi-billionaire Russian owner, Roman Abramovic, may still play a prominent role at the club, but in recent years, Chelsea have found themselves ‘out-Chelsea’d’ by Manchester City in the spending stakes.
And while Benayoun and Ramires are very good players in their own right – and will bolster Chelsea’s midfield options – they probably won’t set the Premier League alight in the same way that the aforementioned trio would.
Perhaps Ancelotti is of the belief that too much change in the championship-winning side would have an adverse effect. Altering a winning formula would undoubtedly be a gamble, but the Italian manager must prove that last season wasn’t a one-off, and will be under pressure to deliver more trophies in his second season since arriving from AC Milan.
Ancelotti’s success last season has, at last, helped some Chelsea supporters to realise that there is life after José Mourinho. However, their craving for The Special One will soon return if the current manager fails to build on last season over the coming weeks and months.
Favourites for the title? Quite possibly. One thing’s for sure, though, competition will be even stiffer this season.
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