Chelsea: Has Enzo Maresca progressed Blues from crisis club to Premier League title contenders in matter of months?

5 December 2024, 12:26 | Updated: 5 December 2024, 18:05

"We've got our Chelsea back" was the chant from the away end. Enzo Maresca's name was being hailed too. And these are not isolated moments. Chelsea are, slowly but surely, moving away from crisis club and morphing into a coherent team that wins football matches on a consistent basis.

Their 5-1 scalp at Southampton on Wednesday was just the latest in a string of positive results from one of the Premier League's most entertaining sides this season. Their Expected Goals (xG) total, not helped by Southampton's shambolic defending, was the highest ever recorded by an away side in a top-flight game (5.29).

In all competitions, Chelsea have scored 57 goals in 22 games, which is already seven more than they managed in 2022-23. Their current goals-per-game ratio (2.6) is the best it's been in a single campaign in their entire history. They are even outscoring frontrunners Liverpool, albeit playing in the weakest of the three European tournaments has helped.

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Still, these numbers are neither incidental nor accidental.

This feels like the coming of age of a team who were crying out for security and stability, and, in Maresca, have found a calm voice combined with a firm hand.

Early-season form has meant they are now part of the title race conversation, level on 28 points with Arsenal, a notion unthinkable in the Graham Potter or Mauricio Pochettino eras. And the general uptick has had a profound impact on individual performance too.

Perhaps lost amid the noise of Cole Palmer's continued wonderment, is the improvement of players so often criticised during previous regimes. Most thought Enzo Fernandez was a write-off, Moises Caicedo was categorised similarly, while frustrations over Nicolas Jackson's erratic finishing were overwhelming.

All of that has changed. A fresh start and a clearer plan, with consistent selection and a fixed 4-2-3-1 formation, has allowed each to thrive in a settled system. Jackson has turned expected goals into actual goals and looks every bit like a striker capable of leading a title-chasing line. Fernandez is finally finding the pockets from which to create. Palmer floats with wonderful freedom.

Then there is the upturn of bubble-blowing Christopher Nkunku, who has found the net in eight of his last nine starts, contributing 12 overall. Goals as well as gimmicks. Confidence is soaring, and over-reliance on Palmer's output a thing of the past.

Signs are positive, but - to temper expectations - a warning: Chelsea remain a team in transition. Defensive cracks have all too often been papered with productivity at the top end, and winning games by outscoring opponents is not necessarily a sustainable science.

Squads dominated by youth and inexperience rarely win out across an entire season and Maresca will be all too aware tougher tests await, with Sunday's trip to London rivals Tottenham a better yardstick of where his team are at on the scale of evolution.

Chelsea made seven changes for the midweek trip to St Mary's, their most since December 2022, with Maresca naming his oldest selection so far (24 years, 162 days). But that still remains the 14th youngest combination by average age in the Premier League.

There are strengths and weaknesses to such realities. Noni Madueke, another to make headway under Maresca's tutelage, was left out of last weekend's 3-0 win over Aston Villa because his work rate in training was not deemed good enough.

"Noni can do much more," Maresca said on Wednesday. "The moment he starts to score or assist and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit and the reason why he was not playing is because I do not like the way he trained."

This no-nonsense approach has challenged Chelsea's youngsters in a way previous managers have not. Ill-discipline has been a long-standing issue: those that follow Chelsea with a keen eye will remember Madueke, Jackson and Palmer's pathetic petty squabbles over a penalty against Everton back in April. It's clear such immaturity won't fly under Maresca.

That Chelsea have somehow developed a ruthless edge in the 157 days he has been in charge, though, is quite remarkable. And now comes the true measure of the Italian's impact: seven games to close out the calendar year, including two (three if you count Brentford) London derbies. Starting with Spurs.

Chelsea have won five of their seven games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in all competitions, the most wins any visiting side has accumulated since Spurs moved there in 2019. And it's a fixture that carries more weight than most.

If Chelsea really are blossoming into title contenders, now is the time to show it, not least because a statement result against a rival challenger is what Maresca misses most. So far, they have lost to Man City and Liverpool, and drawn with Arsenal and Man Utd.

"We're not in the title race. We are not, in my opinion," Maresca said this week. Nothing if not pragmatic and he's probably right, but that won't stop the dreamers from dreaming. The talent is there, after all, and there is plenty to like about the structure and identity of Chelsea, cast in a more rigid mould and bound as one of the league's most free-scoring outfits.

Second will satisfy for now. But could there more to give?

Watch Tottenham vs Chelsea on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League; kick-off 4.30pm

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