Chelsea have no players in top 15 in crucial stat – they won’t win weekly without more | OneFootball

Chelsea have a creativity crisis.

It was obvious in the game on Saturday. The Blues had so much possession through the middle parts of the game but could do nothing with it. They went slowly sideways, and both striker Marc Guiu and number ten Joao Pedro were totally marked out of the game by a solid Sunderland shape.

Chelsea without a creator in Premier League’s top 15

Premier League chances created.

A look at the Premier League’s top chances creators shows that Chelsea have nobody in the top 15. That’s not good enough. Man U, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Everton and Leeds all have multiple players above us in that category.

At this point it feels like even having Cole Palmer back wouldn’t help fully. He can only do so much, and would be squeezed out like Joao Pedro. Enzo Maresca needs to figure out how to get this team to move the ball quickly and in a threatening way, otherwise these results are going to repeat over and over.

We are not a team with a strong defence, we need to score goals, especially at home. Our most dangerous attacker by numbers is Estevao, and we know he can’t start every game. But after him, or the regular starters, it’s Enzo Fernandez in 16th.

Solutions need to be found while Palmer is out.

In other news…

Chelsea also desperately need to improve their aerial capabilities. They conceded from a long throw to Sunderland, and there will be more of those to come as the Premier League meta changes.

One player who could help them with that is Mamadou Sarr, currently on loan at Strasbourg. He’s doing well there – but doesn’t yet look ready to step up to the Premier League. We look a look at his showing against Lyon in our piece here