Sunday’s Premier League match at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Liverpool, the pick of the new 2023/24 season’s first round matches, offers us some interesting insights into the new Chelsea being constructed under the ownership of Todd Boehly and co. After a disastrous 12th place finish last season and no European football this year, the Blues are resolutely building for the future under new coach Mauricio Pochettino. During the thrilling 1-1 draw with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, some signs were evident of how the new Chelsea might look like under the Argentine. Let’s look at each of them in detail.
NICOLAS JACKSON IS NOT READY. BUT HE WILL BE.
Chelsea scored only 38 league goals during the 2022/23 Premier League season, on average a goal for every round. Only 3 teams scored fewer. No Chelsea player touched double figures.
When Nicolas Jackson was signed by Chelsea for around £30 million from Villarreal this summer, there were question marks over whether he was the right profile the Blues need in the Premier League. The lanky Senagalese centre forward is still very much a work in progress but on the evidence of his performance against Liverpool on Sunday, his development seems to be on the fast-track. Jackson impressed on his competitive debut for Chelsea with a performance filled with intelligent running and blistering pace. Against a bruising team such as Liverpool, he also showed that he could cope with the physicality of dealing with defenders like Ibrahima Konate and Virgil Van Dijk.
Konate, in particular, had a torrid time keeping up with Jackson’s pace. The 22-year-old Jackson was guilty of wasting a golden chance to put Chelsea ahead in the first half, but he also led a magnificent Chelsea charge at the Liverpool goal in the second half, setting off from his own half of the pitch and advancing well into the Liverpool half, before laying off the ball for Mykhailo Mudryk on the left.
“He is a player who is in the process of growing,” Unai Emery, then Jackson’s coach at Villarreal, said in September 2022.
“There are times when some players have to go elsewhere to grow, but we are betting on him because his contribution is very high.”
Jackson would end that season with 13 goals, including 9 in the last 8 La Liga matches, helping Villarreal to European qualification and earning his move to Chelsea. Going by his performance on Sunday, it won’t be long before Chelsea begin to reap the fruits of their investment.
THE STERLING-JAMES COMBO WILL ROCK CHELSEA’S RIGHT FLANK
Some time during Chelsea’s match against Liverpool, Todd Boehly, the co-owner of the Blues, might have looked at the diminutive winger playing on the home side’s right flank and muttered under his breath, “There’s the man I signed”. Sterling was Chelsea’s first signing of the Boehly era, swapping the Etihad Stadium for Stamford Bridge for an eye-watering £47.5 million in July 2022. However, the England winger was a major disappointment during his first season in London, with disenchantment over his sparse goal contribution (9 goals and 4 assists in 38 matches across competitions) only outweighed by anger over a perceived unwillingness to clock the miles for his team.
This season, however, Sterling looks a different player, a fitter, meaner version who toyed with the Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson on Sunday. Sterling, in partnership with right-back Reece James, created chance after chance for Chelsea, especially during the first half. Their exploits almost led to a goal towards the end of the first half, before Jackson fired way over the bar and wasted a fine cross from James.
James, the newly minted Chelsea captain, will also be vital for the Blues if he keeps himself fit this season. The England right-back brings a dynamism to Chelsea when fit that very few are capable of emulating. Fortunately for Chelsea supporters, Mauricio Pochettino assured that James had not picked up an injury against Liverpool even though he was withdrawn towards the end of the match. “He was tired,” Pochettino said of James. “You need to see from where he came. He was injured for three or four months.
“This pre-season was tough for him, we didn’t want to take any risk and that is why at 80 minutes, we wanted to avoid the risk.”
DILIGENT GALLAGHER MAY YET HAVE A CAREER WITH THE BLUES
Conor Gallagher played in an unfamiliar deeper midfield role against Liverpool and failed to impress during the first half. However, he redeemed himself in the second half with a performance full of diligence and commitment. The Chelsea Academy graduate got stuck in and made several important interceptions, including one fine tackle of Mohammed Salah near the halfway line when the Egyptian looked set to run at the Chelsea goal with no one else in front of him.
The England midfielder looked set for an exit in the summer but Pochettino reportedly blocked his departure, with the Argentine said to be planning on building a new Chelsea around a core of homegrown academy products such as Reece James, Gallagher and Levi Colwill.
Gallagher may lose his place in Chelsea’s midfield with the arrival of Moises Caicedo from Brighton, but the box-to-box midfielder is still likely to play an important part further up the pitch for the Blues later in the season.
ENZO FERNANDEZ WILL ONLY GET BETTER
The 22-year-old Fernandez was probably the best player on the pitch on Sunday, the Argentine putting in his finest performance in a Chelsea jersey since he joined the Blues for around £106 million in January 2023.
After sparkling only intermittently last season under first Graham Potter and then Frank Lampard, Fernandez dictated the play against Jurgen Klopp’s men at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. After initially being dominated by Liverpool in the opening 20 minutes, Chelsea gradually grew into the game with their Argentine playmaker in the thick of action.
Sunday saw Fernandez being pitted against his compatriot Alexis Mac Allister, with whom he won the Qatar World Cup last year, in a midfield battle that Fernandez won convincingly. But for better finishing from Chelsea’s frontline and better luck, the Blues would have won.
“Enzo was good,” Blues boss Pochettino said on Sunday, singling out Fernandez for praise. “Today the team showed (who they are), we only conceded one shot on target against Liverpool. I think the team was solid.”
Fernandez was also in a hopeful mood. “We wanted to win,” he wrote on his X handle after the match. “But this is just the beginning.”