When AVB rocked up at Stamford Bridge, big money names were touted as imminent arrivals. Among these were Porto striker and star asset Falcon, who was rumoured to be replacing Didier Drogba, and Luka Modric, who was mooted to be desired to bring creativity to the midfield that was lacking in that area. However, none of these supposed signings have materialised, with the only notable event at Chelsea over the summer being the long term injury suffered by the ‘train’ in midfield Michael Essien.
Even then, his replacement was rumoured to be West Ham’s Scott Parker, who whilst it cannot be disputed had a great season last term, has been tried and tested by Chelsea where he did not live up to expectations the first time around, and with several more years under his belt, being the wrong side of 30 now, does not seem to be the ideal replacement for the Ghanaian who brings so much to the Chelsea midfield when fit. In short, Chelsea have done relatively little this summer, and seem to be relying on their current squad of aging players to wrestle the title back from United and gain that illusive Champions League trophy that Abramovich craves so much.
Manchester United have spent big this summer – and needed to, with many key players reaching the end of the twilight seasons of their career and retiring – De Gea was bought to replace Van Der Sar, the creative Ashley Young and Phil Jones have been bought to bring much needed youth to the squad and the imminent signing of Dutch Midfield maestro Wesley Sneijderlooks to be finally coming to pass. Add to this the resurgence in form for Wayne Rooney and continuance of Hernandez’s brilliance, Chelsea look to be a couple of players short to really push United for the title.
A huge factor for Chelsea will be the African Cup of nations, and if Fernando Torres is still not firing on any cylinder come January, Chelsea will seriously be lacking in fire power during a crucial part of the season, where titles are won and lost. The young Daniel Sturridge looks like he can add to their quality up front, and may score some vital goals this coming term. However, in the middle of the park, where Chelsea once looked invincible under Mourinho, they now look like coming up wanting.
Lampard is now older than the Chelsea manager, and last term had an injury hit season, where his goal tally that usually serves Chelsea so well was half of what he and the club would expect. The loss of Essien is huge, with Mikel still not being totally convincing and often being the player that holds up the Chelsea attack and plays passes sideways and back that Carrick would be proud of.
Ramires will be expected to continue with the form showed last season, having more experience in the EPL and being that little big older. Likewise, Chelsea youngster Josh McEachran looks a real star, not once looking out of his depth when playing pre-season and definitely one for the future – whether next season is a couple too soon remains to be seen, and the boy may well benefit from going out on loan to another premier league club for the season should first team opportunities not arise at the bridge.
how will chelsea not keep up with utd this season chelsea have a big squad which is strong with some good young players and cant see utd get near the title this season as chelsea and city both have better defences as shown last season and in chelseas case the two years before that utd dont have a midfield where chelsea and city even arsenal are all strong in all better than utds midfield and the attackers well if torres hits the ground then it has to be chelsea to lose as there is no better striker in the world when hes on form sure rooney will have good season but his mate the mexican wont hes being bad in pre season and has had some concerns about his head as hes got problem and it not funny at all i find it sad a wish him a speedy recovery but hes had it all before and there is reports saying it would knock minimum 5 years off his football life as good as utd are icant seee them winning the league and while am on this point chelsea are the only team who knows how to beat barca with the sqaud they have also city could beat barca with the sqaud they have
Chelski will be there or there abouts come May.Watched them pre-season and they still have the quality and depth to push hard for titles. AVB will undoubtably bring in his OWN players, some costing Big bucks in the near future. Fergie has already stated that he sees Chelsea as main rivals again. UTD,Chelsea and Blue Moons to battle it this season.
As a Chelsea fan, The title would stay in Manchester (which side of Manchester I dont know) it seems like we are trying to squeeze blood out of a Stone!!! Ancelotti winning the title back in 2010 was a stretch too far for that team despite falling away during the winter period and came back to win it in May but the same happened again and it was a bridge too far to Catch the poorest United team to win the league… and it seems like we are trusting the same players again despite the fact that we have back to Back African Nations Cup in 2012 and 2013 and we have ageing players without any pace….
I don’t agree at all tbh.
Like it or not, Chelsea still have the best defense in the premier league. We haven’t even conceded a goal in the entire midseason whilst teams like Liverpool and Madrid are conceding goals against Chinese teams. That includes when playing 16 year old reserve defenders and Ross Turnbull in goal.
Torres is playing amazing in midseason and finally starting to link up with the team. He could even be top scorer this season if he gets off to a good start although tbh, he really won’t have too many challengers. Drogba and Anelka can last at least another year whilst Sturridge has already proved he can get goals in the premier league.
I’ll admit midfield is our weak spot but Lampard is going strong so far and McEachran seems really impressive. All we need is maybe 1 creative midfielder and a wide forward and we have a team that imo is the best in the premier league.
That said, City look promising but i’m not sure United will do amazingly. All their signings were unnecessary reinforcements. If they got Sneijder than maybe theres reason to worry, Ashley Young and Phil Jones really aren’t better than what they already have. They really only won the title last year because every other top team suffered a slump at some point, they certainly weren’t that much better than the opposition.
will challenge utd lyk we did last season or when we won double , so stop ur nonsens coz we fear no budy
Chelsea can challenge man utd if they address their midfield issues. Experience counts but youthful exuberance is quite important
If that’s a serious question, quite easily I’d say. Despite two months of last season when they couldn’t but a win they came back to push all the way. The squad has been strengthened and if the likes of Torres can recapture even a modicum of form really can’t see Man Utd’s revamped squad living with Chelsea.