Following a deflating 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton at Molineux Stadium on Christmas Eve, no team has lost more Premier League matches than Chelsea in 2023 with 19. Striker Christopher Nkunku scored his first goal for the Blues but it wasn’t enough to offset Matt Doherty and Mario Lemina scoring for a Wolves side that has rapidly improved under manager Gary O’Neil. The Blues will now enter Christmas 10th in the Premier League. Despite spending 467 million euros on new players this season, there has been no improvement under manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Last season, through 18 games, Chelsea had 26 points. This season, at the same point, they’re off the pace that saw Thomas Tuchel exit, with only 22 points. In the table, they’re slightly ahead of where they finished last season, in 12th. Missed chances have continued to haunt Chelsea, and their finishing has been an issue for a while. Underperforming their expected goals in 10 of 18 matches this season, Chelsea actually won the xG battle against Wolves 2.05 to 1.31, but the one that matters is the final score, which favored the Midlands club.
It does, however, provide one glimmer of hope in the form of Nkunku. In only 32 minutes on the pitch, the French forward was able to take four shots on his 17 touches, scoring a goal. If Nkunku can assist in turning those shots into goals, it may be enough to turn the Blues around, but they need consistency under Pochettino. With Enzo Fernandez missing time and the wingers not performing, there has been plenty of rotation, but with Nkunku getting back to full fitness, one spot in the XI will be secured.
Plenty needs to be done as the Blues are six points off even a Conference League place. It’s something that Pochettino does recognize that needs to be changed. Following their performance, he mused about what some of the issues may be for the Blues.
“We’ve spoken a lot since the start of the season, and we know we are a young team,” Pochettino said about Chelsea’s performance. “Some of these players are playing in the Premier League for the first time and they need to gain confidence playing at this level. They need to adapt to play at this level and, of course, it is about confidence and belief in themselves. We are a young team that needs to learn from games like this. We know we can still improve and that is something we need to work on.”
One of those young players, Cole Palmer, will now be suspended for their next match against Crystal Palace due to yellow card accumulation as the Blues have put themselves into poor positions time and time this season. Consistent playing time does help but with such a bloated squad, it’s not like Pochettino can play everyone so more of the younger members of the team need to step up to help drive Chelsea forward.
This team won’t make it back to their best without contributions from their under 23 players. They all have shined at times before joining Chelsea so Pochettino has the job of figuring out how to get them all back to their best together. But at Chelsea, time waits for no one and if performances don’t improve soon, Pochettino’s seat could begin to get warm despite him not having coached Chelsea for a full season yet.
