If you’re like us, these preseason games are already getting you excited for the new campaign.
Perhaps you’re a fan living abroad and planning on getting some Chelsea Tickets for the new season – what can you expect to see from Mauricio Pochettino’s new look Blues?
There are a few things we know we’re going to a see a lot of this season, if the warmup games so far are anything to go by. One is Christopher Nkunku playing a key role. Whether it’s as a number 9, playing as 10 behind the striker, or attacking from out wide, the Frenchman is going to be the key creative hub of this team all year, that much is clear. He’s already been used in a variety of places in his minutes so far, and has looked dangerous in each of them.
The second thing we’re going to see a lot of is Enzo Fernandez. If Nkunku is the creative hub at the top end of the field, Enzo is the orchestrator further back. He’s in charge of linking defence with attack and providing Nkunku and the other attacks with the ball in dangerous areas as quickly as possible. There are so few alternatives to Enzo in the squad at all that it’s certain he ends up as one of our top appearance makers this season.
If defence things are a little less certain – there are injuries to two of our prime age central defenders, and doubts over the futures of Trevoh Chalobah. Thiago Silva at 39 is surely going to see a reduced role. It creates a superb chance for Levi Colwill to step up and become a regular right from the start, but until we are certain that his future is at Chelsea we can’t put too many eggs in that basket.
What we need to see in these final games of the tour is a lynchpin emerge in the defender to complement Nkunku and Enzo along the spine of the team. The door is wide open for player like Colwill and there are still two games (against serious opposition) in which he can establish himself.
Pochettino will be very happy with the progress made in just a couple of weeks of training, but given how far off the pace we were last season, and given the huge hole remaining in the squad, he will be aware that there’s still a long way to go to get this group close to where they need to be to compete at the very top.