Man City Square
Fansided

Top 6 Analysis- Chelsea

By Duncan Kwok

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 06: Gary Cahill of Chelsea speaks to his team-mates during the FA Community Shield match between Chelsea and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on August 6, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 06: Gary Cahill of Chelsea speaks to his team-mates during the FA Community Shield match between Chelsea and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on August 6, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Chelsea stormed to the Premier League title with a record of 30 wins-3 draws-5 losses, their performances were aided by the goalscoring prowess of Deigo Costa, the sheer brilliance of Eden Hazard and the indefatigable N’Golo Kante. However, with Deigo Costa on his way out of Stamford Bridge and Eden Hazard missing the start of the season with a broken foot, just how much of a threat will they be to Manchester City is yet to be seen.

Chelsea hasn’t made a lot of signings to the anger of manager Antonio Conte, however, they have strengthened up in the areas of midfield and defence with Tiemoue Bakayoko, Antonio Rudiger and Alvaro Morata joining them. One, however, could also say they have weakened their strikeforce with Alvaro Morata really a replacement for Diego Costa. They have also lost Nemanja Matic to Manchester United, with Tiemoue Bakayoko his replacement from Monaco injured for the first few matches, Antonio Rudiger will be a useful option for Antonio Conte in his three man defence. I personally think that Chelsea is weaker than last reason because Morata is not a proven Premier League forward and losing Deigo Costa will hit them hard.

I expect Chelsea to play Conte’s favourite formation the 3-4-3 with Thibaut Courtois in goal,  Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta as the back 3, Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses as the wing backs with Bakayoko and Kante in central midfield, finally, they will have Hazard, Morata and Pedro up top. It will be quite interesting to see how Chelsea handle having Champions League football this season. Injuries, suspensions and just juggling European football will aid Manchester City and hamper Chelsea. Chelsea is an incredibly strong team, however, there are areas in that Manchester City can exploit, Victor Moses isn’t a natural made wing-back hence why Chelsea were chasing Alex Sandro, Pep can really do damage to Chelsea if he gets Sane, Sterling or Bernardo Silva to run at him.  Also, following Manchester United’s example in man-marking Hazard would definitely help Manchester City in securing a victory. Hazard is the main man at Chelsea, cutting him off from the game means Chelsea lose a goal and creative threat.

Related Story: Manchester City: Top 6 rundown — Manchester United

It would be unwise to dismiss Chelsea as contenders for the Premier League title with a passionate Italian manager in Antonio Conte guiding them and Roman Abramovich backing them with his money Chelsea will be a threat in the race for the 17/18 Premier League title.

Home/Man City News