A decent performance at Fulham aside, Chelsea really haven’t had too much to shout about in the 2023/24 Premier League campaign so far.
The Blues have had to strip things right back as Mauricio Pochettino looks to ensure that his ‘project’ has the best chance of succeeding before trigger-happy Todd Boehly decides to pull the plug and look elsewhere.
Sat in 11th position with just two wins from seven is arguably not where the Chelsea chief would’ve expected the club to be, though if the Argentinian is given time, his track record shows that he can and likely will deliver success.
After spending £115m on Moises Caicedo alone per The Guardian (subscription required), quite frankly he needs to.
Injuries have hampered Chelsea’s initial growth under Pochettino, and news that Ben Chilwell has now been ruled out until December at least isn’t the news he will have wanted to hear.
The Daily Mail report that Chilwell’s hamstring injury means he’ll be out for eight weeks and, as a result, he’ll be fighting to make it for the festive fixtures.
That always assumes that there are no setbacks during the left-back’s recovery period of course.
At least Pochettino can call upon the services of Marc Cucurella who, under different circumstances, might have been playing for Man United.