Jordan Henderson has proven to be an unlikely catalyst in Chelsea’s season after returning from injury, but it was his throwaway line following victory over Everton, in combination with Michael Carrick’s rise and teeter before the fall at Manchester United, which best illustrates why Xabi Alonso’s side have genuine hope of winning the Premier League title.
Doubts over Chelsea’s ability to stay the course and mount a title challenge have by no means been put to bed, but a first clean sheet in nine long months at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday has certainly made that bed more inviting.
It’s not difficult to solve the riddle of increased defensive solidity, as Moises Caicedo’s triumphant return has coincided with Chelsea conceding just one goal in their last two games. He’s been superb and looks to have already formed a well-balanced and formidable partnership with Henderson, who announced his arrival with a stunning brace on his home debut.
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There are still problems. Emiliano Martinez’s horrific head injury, for one. Backup goalkeeper Mike Penders is consistently referred to as ‘a real talent’ or a ‘star of the future’, which will put the willies up Chelsea fans the world over having seen seemingly innumerable such stoppers arrive and fail in the BlueCo era.
They’re very reliant on Caicedo; arguably even more so now after the news of yet another setback for Reece James. And while the back three of Josh Acheampong, Maxence Lacroix and Levi Colwill feels reasonably settled now, Wesley Fofana lingers on the sidelines as a next-in-line accident waiting to happen.
But it’s undeniably as fully formed a team as Chelsea have had since BlueCo took ownership of the then European champions in 2022.
It’s been a painful and ludicrously expensive route to get to a point where for the first time in four-and-a-half years we would feel genuinely confident in naming the starting XI for their next game.
Henderson recognises that things are now coming together.
“There’s been a lot of new change in the summer – new coaching staff and players coming in – but I really feel that the togetherness is coming, not only in training during the week on the field, off the field as well,” Henderson said after victory over Everton.
“That’s going to be important for us going forward and I’m loving every second of it.
“I know we’ve still got a lot to improve on as a team, but I feel as though in the last couple of weeks we’re going in the right direction.”
And the former Liverpool captain then struck upon what could well be key to a Chelsea title challenge, or at the very least a huge advantage they will have over their rivals in the Premier League.
“We’ll go back to the training ground and keep working hard for the next game,” he said.
Manchester City host AEK Athens on Tuesday, Arsenal are off to Munich to face Bayern on Wednesday and Brighton head to the Czech Republic to take on Jablonec. All the while Alonso will be working with his players at Cobham, preparing for the arrival of Tottenham next Saturday.
There’s no better validation for the benefits of no European football than Michael Carrick’s Manchester United. A Premier League win percentage of over 70 per cent across his interim spell with just on game per week has dropped to 14 percent now that Champions League and domestic cup football clog up the calendar.
Arsenal could just keep doing an Arsenal and Brighton could do a Leicester, but after clear signs of improvement under Alonso in a short space of time, ample time on the training ground to continue that upward trajectory and a settled team for the first time in forever, Chelsea should at least be named among the challengers to pounce once Manchester City are taken out of the equation.
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