Chelsea are Premier League title challengers but glaring Arsenal flaw exposed again

Chelsea are going to be title challengers this season, but there are clearly some issues there. They are giving off serious 2022/23 Arsenal vibes.

Arsenal went too far in the other direction after their unexpected title push, evolving from an exciting, attacking team into one that was overly defensive and reliant on set-pieces. Eventually, after three consecutive second-place finishes, that approach did win them the league.

Chelsea might at least follow Arsenal’s lead with their emphasis on set-pieces, with Austin MacPhee (the bloke with the long hair and beard) now part of Xabi Alonso’s coaching team. But if they can find the perfect balance between defence and attack, they will be an incredibly dangerous team.

Right now, they are absolute box office. Their front three of Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers each contributed a goal or assist in Sunday’s 4-3 win over Brighton & Hove Albion, just as they did on Monday night at Fulham.

Palmer was actually fairly quiet while Chelsea raced into a 3-0 lead after only 32 minutes, with Romeo Lavia’s opener arriving an entire 192 seconds later than Pedro’s 31-second finish in the 3-2 win at Fulham. Sluggish.

It was all about Pedro, Rogers and Pedro Neto up to that point, but Palmer gradually began to purr and scored the most important of all seven goals at Stamford Bridge – and probably the best of the lot – curling beyond Bart Verbruggen with 16 minutes remaining.

His finish restored Chelsea’s two-goal cushion after Brighton had fought back from 3-0 down to 3-2 and ultimately proved to be the winner, with Pascal Gross’ last-gasp response completing the scoring.

Seven goals across the first two Premier League matches of a new manager’s tenure is a Chelsea record; five conceded is rather more concerning.

While the 2022/23 Arsenal parallels are obvious, it would also be fair to describe Chelsea as the complete opposite of the current Arsenal team.

World-class defensively but lacking comparable quality in the final third, Arsenal have often been criticised for how they have tactically evolved under Mikel Arteta. Chelsea will garner plenty of plaudits for the way they play, but the old saying exists for a reason: attack wins you games; defence wins you championships.

Defending like this, Chelsea are nowhere near secure enough to beat Arsenal to the title. Their strength everywhere else, however, makes them an incredibly intriguing team and perhaps the most likely to run the champions closest.

In a rather bizarre turn of events, Chelsea might even be the team plenty of neutrals want to win the league if it becomes a straight shootout between themselves and Arsenal, who incidentally face one another next weekend.

That Chelsea could become the neutral choice says an awful lot about how widely Arsenal and their particular brand of football appear to be disliked.

One factor boosting Chelsea’s title credentials is the acquisition of Emi Martinez, who came straight into the starting XI as Robert Sanchez dropped out of the squad entirely following his two clangers at Fulham.

Looking at Chelsea’s strongest XI before Martinez was signed, it was clear that their biggest problem was in goal. Everyone was again left scratching their heads at how Sanchez had somehow survived into another season as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.

He has made plenty of errors for Chelsea over the years, yet Alonso was more than happy to be ruthless and sign the best available goalkeeper. Martinez brings a wealth of experience, an elite mentality and, most importantly, a much safer pair of hands.

Sure, Martinez has a mistake in him and his club form has been inconsistent over the last year, but he will go down as the most important signing of the season if Chelsea mount a serious title challenge.

A title push already felt possible with Sanchez in goal, but he always appeared the player most likely to hold them back. Now, on paper, there is no single player obviously doing so. Chelsea have an excellent squad in almost every department.

Football, as we all know, is not won and lost on paper. For all of Pedro, Rogers and Palmer’s scintillating attacking displays, Chelsea will still concede plenty of goals – although fewer should now be directly attributable to goalkeeper errors.

They are suspect defensively and potentially losing Moises Caicedo will not help. Caicedo missed Monday night and was only fit enough for the bench against Brighton. He then came on and lasted only 13 minutes before limping off.

If Caicedo gets back to full fitness, Chelsea could look far more secure. But even with so many defensive players on the pitch, including three central defenders, they remain incredibly open, as the five goals conceded against Fulham and Brighton underline.

Defensive frailties ultimately cost Arsenal in 2022/23 and will probably be what lets Chelsea down this year, even after fixing their goalkeeper mess. William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes formed a solid defensive partnership, but the lack of depth killed them, with Saliba’s March injury sending the wheels flying off.

Chelsea have a decent group of centre-backs, but only decent.

We would be surprised if Alonso went out and signed a world-class centre-back now. We are not even sure there are any available. But if this group can grow together as Arsenal’s did and Alonso makes the appropriate tactical tweaks, we could witness an evolution similar to the one overseen by Arteta.

With the exciting front three of Palmer, Pedro and Rogers, though, we would be shocked if Alonso went as far in the other direction as his compatriot.

Time will tell on that, but what we do know is that Chelsea will be must-watch television this season. We said it on Monday and we will say it again: they are the Premier League’s new entertainers.

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