Chelsea just cannot seem to catch a break. After a horrendous start to the season, the Blues seemed to have recovered after winning two and drawing in the first three weeks of October. However, then came a home defeat against Brentford, which once again left the team with more questions than answers. To make matters worse, their next game was against their city rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, who were at the top of the table and were undefeated in the league.
Chelsea, though in the most Chelsea way possible, decimated the table toppers 4-1 away on the road. While they were helped by the two red cards given to Christian Romero and Destiny Udogie, these were the results of some brilliant attacking play by the Blues.
However, such has been the inconsistency of Mauricio Pochetinno’s side that even such a morale-boosting victory doesn’t guarantee that his team might go on a long run of victories.
However, what do the stats say? Have Chelsea been that bad, or has a high involvement of luck or players not gelling together as quickly as was expected of them? We explain.
Chelsea’s attacking metrics
A look at their stats in the attacking third proves one thing: Chelsea should be at least in the top six, if not higher. Data from Soccerment shows that the players have been brilliant at getting the ball near the goal. The club are the best in the league when it comes to Gegenpressing Intensity, which shows that they play an attacking style of football.
Chelsea also have a 63.59 per cent rating in Field Tilt, which measures the amount of possession a team has in the opposition’s half. They back these possession advantages by being the second-best team in playing one-twos and the fourth-best in terms of successful dribbles.
On top of that, they also have the third-best passing accuracy. However, it is what Chelsea do when they get into a scoring chance that has been the main reason for their downfall. While Nicolas Jackson dropped a masterclass by scoring a hattrick against Tottenham, we must remember it came against a nine-man team who were playing a high line in search of a goal.
Jackson has an expected goal (xG) rating of 6.72 but has only scored five, three of which came against Tottenham. And not only Jackson but any player across the frontline have failed to find the finishing touch. Before the Tottenham game, the club’s top scorer was Raheem Sterling, with only three goals.
The xG difference is even more stark when taking the entire team into account….
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