It is no secret this summer that Chelsea captured the attention of the premier league with the transfers they made. They went from an already pretty good roster to one that is amongst the best in Europe, not just the Premier League. It is why my prediction that Chelsea will finish outside of the top 4 a wild one.
Welcome back to Far-Fetched Friday, where every Friday we give you a bold prediction that we believe will come to fruition. This Friday we look at the blue side of London.
It may seem counter-intuitive to say a team that improved its squad over the summer will actually perform worse, but that is what I think will happen. Real-life is not FIFA or Football Manager, chemistry matters, and the additions made will take a while to adjust.
You have a homegrown talent in Tammy Abraham that single-handedly kept Chelsea afloat at the start of last season with 11 goals and three assists in the first 14 games of the season. And how do they reward that? By the end of the season, he had lost his spot to Olivier Giroud, and in the summer, Chelsea decided they needed another forward in Timo Werner.
You have a center back situation they tried to solve by bringing in a legend in Thiago Silva that unfortunately doesn't speak the language and history shows us center backs don't usually adjust well to the premier league immediately. Not to mention they have the worst goalkeeping situation in the Big-6.
Then you have Havertz, who played well against Barnsley but has struggled so far against premier league opposition. You still have to integrate Hakim Ziyech into the squad, not to mention an adjustment to Christian Pulisic's role.
You also have the rest of the contenders. United seem desperate to make additions, Manchester City and Liverpool look like locks for the top 2 and Tottenham have silently made very impactful additions. You have an Arsenal team playing as well as anyone and Wolverhampton and Leicester City both have teams capable of sneaking into the top 4.
If Chelsea starts this season slowly, it will be a monumental task to get back to the top-4 in a premier league that is the most competitive we have ever seen.
I still think Chelsea have a great team and a great manager, but it is all too much too soon. I expect them to start this premier league season slow, and that will cost them a top-4 finish.
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