For the first time since Todd Boehly and co took over, the Stamford Bridge faithful have a strange feeling in their gut… hope. A memorable 3-0 win over European Champions PSG in the Club World Cup final, along with subsequent pre-season wins over Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan leave Chelsea in good stead.
A flourish of new signings and another £200 million (roughly) spent have also added to the excitement, but the squad is still young and Enzo Maresca, despite his impressive first season, is still relatively inexperienced.
Chelsea aren’t the only side to have improved this summer either. Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man City have all added, so it begs the question, should Maresca’s side be considered genuine title contenders, or is everyone getting carried away a bit?
Not as stubborn as one might think
When Maresca came in, he was cautious not to change too much too soon. Chelsea started 2024-25 like they ended the previous season under Mauricio Pochettino, winning games but playing some of the most chaotic football in the league.
Chelsea scored eleven goals in their first five Premier League games, but their new boss wasn’t happy because they weren’t playing the way he wanted. Fast forward to the festive period, and Chelsea have fallen off, with just one league win from December 22nd until the end of January.
By the end of their domestic season, Chelsea had transformed from a side that thrived on chaos to one of the more defensively solid sides in Europe. Fast forward again to the Club World Cup, Maresca was trying new things, and they were paying off.
Chelsea outperformed their xG of 12.5, ending the tournament as top goal scorers with 17 across their seven games, creating the third highest number of big chances with 21. Which all points too…
They’ve sorted their striker situation
Nicolas Jackson is good at a lot of things; his link up play with Cole Palmer has produced some of the best moments at Chelsea over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, when it came to his end product, the striker left a lot to be desired.
Enter Liam Delap and Joao Pedro. Both forwards have hit the ground running, scoring a combined eight goals across the Club World Cup and pre-season friendlies, which is just five less than Jackson ended 2024-25 with.
The two players are fairly similar in their style of play, although Pedro is more versatile, able to drop into the number ten role or onto the left-wing. Both are combative, not scared to make a nuisance of themselves and wrestle with defenders bigger than them.
Where Jackson fell short was finishing and ball-striking, although it’s a small sample size, Pedro and Delap appear to have fixed just that. Pedro in particular has impressed, his two goals on his debut against Fluminense were strikes Chelsea fans haven’t seen from a striker since Diego Costa.
Given the sheer number of chances Chelsea create under Maresca now, expect goals from these two.
Cucurella is key
The fluffy haired Spaniard had a rough start to life at Chelsea. The fans didn’t take to him, he ran around the pitch like a headless chicken, and a number of high-profile mistakes nearly saw him shipped out to Man United.
Now, he’s arguably their most important player. He’s a kind of hybrid full-back, doing all the things a traditional left-back would do, defending the wide areas, bombing down the wing etc, but also inverting into midfield.
He often finds himself as Chelsea’s spare man in attack, popping up in areas no one would have expected him to be in. He scored winners against Leicester and Man United when Chelsea needed him most. Simply said, Chelsea would not be in the same position without him.
Young Jorrel Hato has come as cover, helping to keep Cucurella fit throughout what is going to be a gruelling season for Chelsea, now that they’re back in the Champions League. If Chelsea ends up winning the league, Cucurella will have been a big reason why.
Unknown effects of the Club World Cup
Maresca’s side are in unknown waters. Playing and winning the Club World Cup means the players and coaches haven’t had much time to reset and recharge ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Levi Colwill will miss most, if not all of the campaign after he ruptured his ACL on the first day of pre-season training. It’s impossible to say whether their trip to the USA had a part to play in that, or whether it was a freak accident, but he’s unlikely to be the last to have played at the tournament and pick up such an injury.
On the upside, they don’t appear to have the rustiness that some sides might. Chelsea hit the ground running in pre-season and it’s likely that will continue into their Premier League campaign. Of course, that means they will likely drop off a little later in the season, and that’s where it could all fall apart.
Verdict
It feels like last season’s top four are starting to pull away from the rest of the pack. Realistically, any of them could win it, but Chelsea are probably the least likely of them, on paper anyway.
So, yes, Chelsea CAN win it, but that doesn’t mean they will.