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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.
