So far this season Chelsea have lost to City, then to Juventus, and then were pinned back by “lowly” Brentford for the last 30 minutes of the game last weekend. Last season, Chelsea had a relatively easy path to the Champions League final - it didn’t face Bayern or PSG, then got the better of Pep in the CL final.
Last year Chelsea’s toughest opposition in the CL was Atletico. Otherwise, the opponents were mediocre: Porto’s whole team cost as much as Chelsea’s annual transfer budget and Real Madrid is nearly geriatric at this point. Chelsea will need the luck of the draw to avoid facing Bayern (the best team in Europe right now), City, and Liverpool after the group stage. Even PSG could pose a problem if it figures out how to use all its talent coherently.
I am going to say that Chelsea are my favourites to win the EPL this season, regardless of stats.. it’s too early to rely heavily on xG at this point in proceedings, and their young defenders plus the trio of Werner, Lukaku & Havertz all have a big margin of improvement to come - they are nowhere near their potential yet. Helluva squad, I think, & reigning European champs.
Liverpool’s squad is still thin for the 38 games, and Man City might’ve dropped £100m on Grealish, have up to £500m of talent in reserve for any given game, but are they on an upward curve? I don’t really think so, and might still yearn after an Aguero type goal scorer
There’s a cliché about form/stats going out of the window in local derbies, and while there’s always lots of London sides, Brentford and Thomas Frank are still honeymooners in the EPL. Chelsea ‘winning ugly’ isn’t a surprise though. How do we quantify the capacity for ‘winning ugly’?
Trends & momentum are very important to players confidence and team performances. Being CL champs & then showing up the following season with a title isn’t quite a pattern but Liverpool & Man Utd have done it before. I’m betting Chelsea do it next May.
So far this season Chelsea have lost to City, then to Juventus, and then were pinned back by “lowly” Brentford for the last 30 minutes of the game last weekend. Last season, Chelsea had a relatively easy path to the Champions League final - it didn’t face Bayern or PSG, then got the better of Pep in the CL final.
Last year Chelsea’s toughest opposition in the CL was Atletico. Otherwise, the opponents were mediocre: Porto’s whole team cost as much as Chelsea’s annual transfer budget and Real Madrid is nearly geriatric at this point. Chelsea will need the luck of the draw to avoid facing Bayern (the best team in Europe right now), City, and Liverpool after the group stage. Even PSG could pose a problem if it figures out how to use all its talent coherently.
I am going to say that Chelsea are my favourites to win the EPL this season, regardless of stats.. it’s too early to rely heavily on xG at this point in proceedings, and their young defenders plus the trio of Werner, Lukaku & Havertz all have a big margin of improvement to come - they are nowhere near their potential yet. Helluva squad, I think, & reigning European champs.
Liverpool’s squad is still thin for the 38 games, and Man City might’ve dropped £100m on Grealish, have up to £500m of talent in reserve for any given game, but are they on an upward curve? I don’t really think so, and might still yearn after an Aguero type goal scorer
There’s a cliché about form/stats going out of the window in local derbies, and while there’s always lots of London sides, Brentford and Thomas Frank are still honeymooners in the EPL. Chelsea ‘winning ugly’ isn’t a surprise though. How do we quantify the capacity for ‘winning ugly’?
Trends & momentum are very important to players confidence and team performances. Being CL champs & then showing up the following season with a title isn’t quite a pattern but Liverpool & Man Utd have done it before. I’m betting Chelsea do it next May.
When I saw the word "soccer" I knew from d onset that you know little or nothing about "football". Too bad