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With less than 24 hours to the start of the 2018/19 Premier League season, all 20 EPL clubs are gearing up for the fresh challenges that lie ahead. Some such as Burnley will seek to consolidate on their impressive performance last season, while others will aim to make amends for their underperformance last season.
One of the clubs in the latter category is Chelsea, as the London club suffered a winner's second season syndrome last term, and spectacularly imploded, finishing in fifth position just a year on from winning the league in record-breaking fashion.
There have been changes to the team, as the club seeks to move on from the debacles of last season. Premier League winning manager Antonio Conte has departed the club, with 59-year-old former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri appointed in his stead and the Italian bringing Jorginho from Estadio San Paolo with him, while Kepa Arrizabalaga was signed for a world record fee of £71m from Athletic Bilbao on deadline day.
Like the rest of their rivals in the top six, Chelsea would be aiming to achieve their season's objective of finishing at the peak of the league table, however, the strength of their rivals in the top six means that two teams must drop out from the Champions League places.
Using a SWOT analysis, I profile The Blues and their chances of success.
Outline
Strength: Key areas or qualities which the club possesses that puts it at an instant advantage, and makes it a contender
Weaknesses: Areas or qualities which puts the club at an instant disadvantage and makes it weaker than its opponents
Opportunities: Areas or qualities with potential to make the team stronger than its rivals
Threats: Areas or qualities which have potential to make the team weaker than its opponents
CHELSEA - Strengths
N'Golo Kante
One of the standout defensive midfielders in the world, Kante led the way for most interceptions in Leicester's fairytale EPL triumph in 2016. He continued with his imperious form for Chelsea a season later, which played a crucial role in The Blues winning the Premier League in his debut season with them, and he was deservedly named the 2017 PFA Player of the Year (an incredible feat, given players in his position usually don't get such recognition).
A tireless worker, the sheer amount of games the World Cup winner has played over the last three seasons with almost no rest is mind-boggling, yet he shows no signs of fatigue, consistently running and discharging his duties with minimum fuss.
He is every coach's ideal player, and every player's dream teammate, and even though he had a bit of lull in his performance last season, there is no doubt that N'Golo Kante's ball-winning abilities are going to be central to everything Chelsea set out to achieve this season.
Eden Hazard
Heavily touted as the galactico replacement for the Juventus bound Ronaldo at Real Madrid, Hazard now seems set to spend at least another season at Stamford Bridge, and this will come as sweet music to the ears of Chelsea fans, as the Belgian is the chief orchestrator of the team's attacks.
The 28-year-old is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world, and though plagued by consistency issues, on his day, he has the key to unlock any defense in the world, and Chelsea are blessed to have him within their ranks.
After a disappointing 2017/2018 season for Chelsea, Eden Hazard reminded every one of his qualities at the 2018 World Cup, where he put in a Silver Ball-winning performance to guide Belgium to her best World Cup finish in 52 years.
Hazard was unplayable at times, embarking on devastating runs and shouldering the responsibility of lifting Belgium, particularly in the quarter-final against Brazil, where he outplayed and outshone Neymar.
Not losing Hazard in this transfer window and having him ready for the coming season is a major transfer coup for Chelsea, as he can inspire the blues to domestic dominance, much like he did in 2015, when he was named the PFA Player of the Year.
CHELSEA - Weaknesses
Inadequate squad depth
In times gone by, Chelsea had one of the strongest squads in European football, as access to Roman Abramovich's billions meant the club had within its ranks not only world-class starters such as Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and John Terry, but also top quality substitutes such as Solomon Kalou, Joe Cole and Hernan Crespo.
The results showed, as Chelsea dominated England and Europe in a manner not seen before in the club's history, winning multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2012.
It is a well-known fact that a solid starting team wins you games, but a quality bench wins you titles, as the sheer volume of matches to be played over the nine months of a league campaign is bound to take a toll on players' bodies, and key players are to be rested in a bid to maintain their fitness.
This is where having a strong bench comes in, as they would be the ones rotated for the regulars, and if they are lacking in quality similar to the regulars, the club's results are bound to take a hit.
It was a key component of City's stroll to the title last season, as not only did they have arguably the strongest starting 11 in the league, they also had the most quality on the bench, making Guardiola's job much easier.
If he needed to shake things up in midfield, he had quality players like Bernardo Silva and Yaya Toure to call upon, he also had the luxury of having one of either Aguero or Gabriel Jesus on the bench, while regular internationals like Danilo, Claudio Bravo and Kompany were not guaranteed starters.
A change in financial policy at Chelsea means that there is no longer unfettered access to transfer funds, and the overall quality of the squad has taken a hit, which was a major complaint of Antonio Conte's last season.
While their first eleven is still one of the strongest in the league and they are adequately staffed in midfield and on the wings, it is at backup for other positions where Chelsea is painfully short. In central defence, David Luiz and Gary Cahill are on the wrong side of thirty, and past their prime while Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen would need some time to properly adapt to the Premier League.
In the full-back positions, Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpillicuetta are good enough, but their backups in Davide Zappacosta and Emerson Palmieri were not given enough opportunities last season to prove their worth, and though Victor Moses might have excelled in the wing-back role under Conte, he is not a traditional full-back.
Chelsea will find themselves playing Europa League fixtures this season, and the utter amount of games in that competition coupled with their domestic duties means that rotation of players would be a must for Maurizio Sarri, and the dearth of quality players on the bench means that Chelsea would struggle to keep up with their rivals.
Misfiring strikers
Alvaro Morata arrived at Chelsea from Real Madrid at the start of last season for a club record fee of £58m. His arrival was widely cheered, as he had performed reasonably well at Juventus and Real Madrid, and was the subject of a bidding war between Chelsea and Manchester United.
After hitting the ground running, scoring six goals in his first six league appearances, including a hat-trick in the 4-0 demolition of Stoke City, Morata hit a dry patch, and went on a 10 match run without scoring in all competitions for Chelsea (six in the league, four in cup games).
His debut season did not go according to plan, as Morata struggled to adapt to the physical nature of the Premier League, and comically went to ground at the slightest touch. He also missed clear-cut chances, which made Conte lose patience with him and sign Olivier Giroud as a backup striker. He ended his first season at Chelsea with just 15 goals from 49 appearances in all competitions.
Olivier Giroud also failed to impress upon his January arrival, and scored just five goals in 18 appearances across all competitions for Chelsea, with only three of those goals coming in the EPL. He also underperformed in his duties as a centre-forward in France's victorious World Cup campaign, where he failed to register a single shot on target from 13 attempts in the entirety of the competition.
How big a role Michy Batshuayi would get to play under Sarri remains to be seen, but with strong reports linking him with a move to La Liga, it seems the onus for delivering the goals would fall on Morata and Giroud, and on evidence of their performances last season, the club could be set for another season of goal struggles.
CHELSEA - Opportunities
Maurizio Sarri's arrival
Maurizio Sarri was appointed in July as a replacement for his compatriot Antonio Conte, after the 46-year-old former Juventus manager had fallen out with the board.
The 59-year-old Sarri built his reputation in Serie A first with Empoli with whom he secured promotion from Serie B and remarkably helped them retain their top-flight status. He further enhanced it with his three-year spell at Napoli, where he forged a compact and entertaining team well drilled in positional play and possession-based football.
He led a Napoli side to famously challenge Juventus all the way in last season's Serie A race. Even though the San Paolo outfit ultimately failed in their quest to end their 28-year wait for the Scudetto, they won fans over with their exciting brand of football, and their final haul of 91 points is the record highest for a team who didn't win the Italian league.
Sarri's arrival represents an opportunity for the club to deliver what its owner Roman Abramovic has been yearning for, winning trophies by playing aesthetic football, and Sarri's style of play nicknamed 'Sarriball' is bound to keep the Stamford Bridge faithful entertained.
He possesses the tactical acumen to succeed at a club like Chelsea, and he also has recent history in his favor, as Italian coaches tend to do well in the West London club, but whether these factors would translate into success on the pitch remains to be seen.
Jorginho
Jorginho was the fulcrum through which every attacking play of Maurizio Sarri's Napoli went through. The Brazilian born Italian international is a class act in midfield, and his excellent range of passing makes him the perfect match for any team seeking to play possession-based football. It is no wonder Pep Guardiola is a keen admirer and sought to bring him to the Etihad until he ultimately chose to transfer to Stamford Bridge.
The 26-year-old created passing records in the Serie A that defy imagination. Since Opta started gathering data for passing stats in Serie A in 2004, Jorginho holds 9 out of the top ten spots for most passes attempted in a Serie A match.
In a 3-1 victory over Cagliari last season, Jorginho attempted a phenomenal 195 passes, completing 180 of them (92.3% accuracy), with 75.6% of those being forward passes, and at an average length of 13m.
Furthermore, he attempted and completed more passes than any other player across Europe's top five leagues last season (3197 attempted, 2860 completed).
For all of his brilliance, Jorginho has largely gone unnoticed, and only won his first competitive international cap on November 13 last year in the second leg of the ill-fated World Cup play-off match against Sweden. At Chelsea, he would have a higher platform to display his brilliance to the world, and with him in top gear, Chelsea would fancy their chances of excelling this season.
CHELSEA - Threats
Maurizio Sarri's appointment
As stated earlier, Maurizio Sarri is a brilliantly tactical coach, and you know your style of play is exquisitely beautiful when it earns you the compliment of none other than Pep Guardiola.
However, beyond being a tactically astute coach and playing beautiful football, it takes a lot more than that to manage a top-level club, and this is where Maurizio Sarri is painfully deficient.
At 59 years, he is yet to win a major trophy in his managerial career, while his biggest achievements are gaining promotion to Serie A with Empoli, and guiding Napoli in a futile Serie A title challenge.
As impressive as his Napoli side was last season, they ultimately came up empty-handed, and while it might have been alright for a club the stature of Napoli to bask in the euphoria of hassling Juventus all the way in the Serie A race, there are markedly higher standards expected at the bigger clubs.
Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in Europe, infamous for its rapid hiring and firing of coaches, and the club has had a winning mentality for the last 15 years, so challenging for titles without winning anything is not going to be good enough.
The Chelsea job is Sarri's grandest till date, and it is a significant leap from his previous appointments. The requirements and wherewithal needed to successfully manage clubs of such mega sizes where politicking and business interests are almost as important as results on the field require experience to acquire, and most coaches untested at this level fail when thrust into managerial roles at the biggest clubs.
Sarri is replacing his compatriot in Antonio Conte, a serial winner who has won league titles in convincing fashions in two of Europe's best leagues, and while Sarri is tactically astute and aesthetically proficient, as Marcelo Bielsa knows, beautiful football and tactical brilliance don't always translate into trophies, and at a club like Chelsea, in the long run, trophies are all that matter.
Europa League football
Chelsea will find themselves playing Europa League football on Thursday nights next season as a result of their under-performance last year.
While it might represent a second chance back with Europe's elite as it did for Manchester United in 2016, or a shot at European glory as with Atletico Madrid last season or even The Blues themselves in 2013, the bottom line is that it is a scenario most of the big clubs would rather not find themselves in.
The reason is not far fetched. The Europa League represents the second-tier of European club competition, ditto second-tier European clubs, so while the mainstream European club heavyweights are playing against the Real Madrids and Barcelonas of this world on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Chelsea would have Vardar Skopje and Botev Plovdiv for company on Thursdays.
No disrespect to any of the seasoned Europa League campaigners or the competition itself, but no big club wants to travel to the far reaches of the European continent to play against little-known players and clubs in a competition which fans have minuscule to no interest in.
The sheer number of clubs participating in the Europa League means it is an arduous competition to navigate in the first place, before adding the extreme distances covered to arrive at match venues.
Europa League matches take place on Thursdays (sometimes in places as far-flung as Kazakhstan and Macedonia) and league fixtures are played on Sundays. The players and coaches rarely have enough time to rest after their European exertions before resuming league duties.
Europa League competition takes a negative toll on league performances (as Manchester United found out), and Chelsea might find it difficult to successfully balance Europa League duties with their domestic targets.
