Premier League 2018/19: Four reasons why Chelsea may struggle in the league

#3 Limited impact in the transfer market thus far

Chelsea have been relatively quiet in the market

In the early years of Abramovich's reign, Chelsea managers had access to a seemingly never-ending source of funds to buy the absolute best players from all over Europe and the rest of the world.

World Class players like Arjen Robben, Andriy Shevchenko, Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, Fernando Torres, Petr Cech among others came to the club for huge transfer fees and changed the fortunes of the London club, turning them into European behemoths.

However, in recent seasons, that has changed, as Abramovich seeks to run the club on a self-sustenance model where money is spent by a measure of how much the club generates. Plans for a stadium upgrade also means there is a paucity in funds granted to coaches for purchasing players.

Antonio Conte complained about this, and he was justified in his complaints, because in today's increasingly business-oriented world of football, you need money (lots of it) to remain competitive.

Transfer records are being broken almost by the minute, and Chelsea have seen their rivals, particularly Liverpool, strengthen significantly, but the Blues have been quiet in the transfer market thus far.

There were lots of deficiencies in Chelsea's playing personnel last season, Azpilicuetta seems to be the only reliable centre-back in Chelsea at the moment (and he isn't a natural one at that) as Christensen might need some time to garner more experience, Victor Moses for all his brilliance is not a natural wing-back, while Fabregas and Pedro seem to have past their primes.

Maurizio Sarri traditionally plays with a back four, so he might need a new centre-back or right-back (depending on where he chooses to play Azpilicuetta), while there are also other key areas to be addressed.

The transfer market offered an opportunity to rectify those grey areas, but Chelsea don't seem willing to explore that option, and with Jorginho the only major new signing, the problems from last season may persist and The Blues might struggle to meet their season's objectives.