Chelsea welcome Everton to Stamford Bridge on Saturday with two successive league wins under their belts after just two wins from their previous 15 games – so have the Blues finally clicked?
Is the recent upturn in form a sign of their extraordinary squad turnover starting to gel, or are wins against relegation-threatened Leeds and Leicester too small a sample size to raise expectations so early into their project?
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the Premier League match between Leicester and Chelsea
Rumours were rife that Graham Potter’s spell at Chelsea would be short lived if his team lost at home to Leeds at the start of the month – a narrow 1-0 home win preceded further wins against high-flying Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and a first Premier League away win since mid-October at the King Power Stadium last Saturday.
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Highlights from Chelsea’s match against Leeds in the Premier League
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Six of Chelsea’s starting XI at Leicester have joined since Todd Boehly purchased the club and sanctioned a £600m spending spree on 18 players in the last two transfer windows – a record spend in a single season by any club in history. Sixteen of the 33 players Chelsea have used in all competitions this season have made their debuts during this campaign.
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Chelsea and Potter have been afforded little leeway as the former Brighton head coach tries to assemble his best team from a squad still familiarising themselves with one another. They have made 21 more changes to their starting XIs in the Premier League this season than any other team – while only Nottingham Forest have used more players.
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The substantial transfer fees inevitably attract the expectation of instant results. Arsenal were on the brink of signing Mykhailo Mudryk in January before Chelsea’s late intervention, and, instead, signed experienced Premier League forward Leandro Trossard – for less than a third of the fee.
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Saturday 18th March 5:00pm Kick off 5:30pm
Mudryk registered his first Premier League goal involvement last weekend. The following day, Trossard’s hat-trick of assists means he now averages a goal or assist every 65 minutes since joining the league leaders.
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It should come as no surprise that the Belgian, needing no bedding-in period, has hit the ground running faster than a 22-year-old still in single digits for career league goals. Naturally, the transfer fees for both will dominate any comparison.
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All six of the club’s high-profile January signings have featured at least three times since joining, with Joao Felix and Enzo Fernandez now regular fixtures in the starting XI. But two of their more established players could ensure Chelsea’s recent progress is sustained in the final months of the season.
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Reece James and Ben Chilwell have started together in just seven of Chelsea’s 64 Premier League games since the start of the 2021/22 season. The last time they both started in the league at Stamford Bridge was back in November 2021.
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Chelsea head coach, Graham Potter says Mason Mount’s contract situation is ‘complicated’ as the midfielder decides whether to stay at the club or not
The Blues are significantly stronger with their first-choice wing-backs starting: Since the start of last season, Chelsea’s win percentage has increased by more than 25 per cent and they score more goals and concede fewer with the England internationals in their line-up.
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Chelsea’s only Premier League defeat with James and Chilwell starting in that period was a 2-0 loss at Tottenham last month, with both still making their way back to full fitness following their most recent injury setbacks.
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Having a fully fit James and Chilwell to choose from each week could be pivotal to Potter’s success this season. Chelsea have used a 3-4-3 formation in each of their recent three wins, doing so for the first time in either the Premier League or Champions League since his appointment. They have won all three league games this season when starting with that system.
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Chelsea’s extravagant spending means they will find themselves under the microscope more than any other team as they continue to find their feet under a new owner, head coach and playing staff. The only way they will survive such scrutiny is by winning games – something they have started to get right recently.
They entered March with just one win from 11 matches in all competitions, so are well aware just how swiftly things can change.
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