Chelsea are a weird team, aren’t they?
They sit third and, following their transfer ban last summer, will be delighted to have a chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
However, they are guilty of producing performances like they did on Saturday where they were hammered 3-0 by Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
It was Chelsea’s ninth loss of the season and they’ve now conceded 49 goals - 22 more than champions Liverpool.
After the match, manager Frank Lampard couldn’t hide his anger.
"I’ve got to be careful overanalysing this one because it’s what you do: you analyse all season, review, look forward," Lampard said.
"What we have to do now is put that game to bed because the only thing that matters now is that we fight for top four and we’re still in that race because of how we’ve been this season. But I learned a lot and I won’t forget that."
While Lampard may not want to ‘overanalyse’ following such a disappointing defeat, we’ll do that for him.
Some pundits have suggested that Chelsea could challenge for the Premier League title next season with the incoming Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech. The likes of Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz have also been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge.
But what about this current squad? Because many of them clearly aren’t good enough.
Therefore, we’ve decided to rank the entire Chelsea squad from ‘world-class’ to ‘get rid ASAP’
Check it out:
World-class: N/A
Sorry, we don’t reckon Chelsea have a single world-class player in their squad at the moment. We’d probably stick Werner in there when he arrives though.
Regular starter:
- Christian Pulisic
- N’Golo Kante
Pulisic has been magnificent since the Premier League’s restart and, despite Werner and Ziyech’s arrival, the American has got to be starting games if he can keep up this kind of form.
Kante hasn’t quite been the same player recently but he should still be starting games for Chelsea.
Squad player:
- Willy Caballero
- Mateo Kovacic
- Oliver Giroud
- Willian
- Cesar Azpilicueta
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek
- Jorginho
- Ross Barkley
- Tammy Abraham
- Reece James
- Mason Mount
This group of players are good enough to be in and around the starting XI at Chelsea. Willian has been included because Chelsea should be offering the Brazilian a new contract even though that looks increasingly unlikely.
Elsewhere, there is plenty of English talent who will be hoping to secure regular first-team football at Stamford Bridge next season.
Potential:
- Callum Hudson-Odoi
- Ethan Ampadu
- Fikayo Tomori
Hudson-Odoi may well be fearing the worst with the new arrivals and next season is make or break for him. Ampadu has impressed in Germany and will surely be given a bit more game time by Lampard next season. Tomori still needs to improve but, at the age of 22, still has time on his side.
Sell:
- Antonio Rudiger
- Davide Zappacosta
- Andreas Christensen
- Kurt Zouma
- Michy Batshuayi
- Tiemoue Bakayoko
- Marcos Alonso
- Emerson
We’ve been pretty ruthless with the defenders here. But considering Chelsea’s defensive record this season, can you really blame us? Rudiger is often regarded as the club’s best defender but he’s made far too many mistakes. Christensen and Zouma aren’t bad either but, if Chelsea want to challenge for league titles, they need to be sold.
Get rid ASAP:
- Kepa Arrizabalaga
- Pedro
- Danny Drinkwater
- Kenedy
Kepa is the world’s most expensive goalkeeper and he can’t save a thing. Chelsea need to cut their losses and go out and sign a new goalkeeper now. Pedro is leaving the club at the end of the season and the less said about Drinkwater and Kennedy, the better…
