The worrying stat in which Chelsea are 25% worse than last year already | OneFootball

The international break is a good time to look at the big picture of the team and figure out how they’re getting on.

This was bound to be a tough season because of the Club World Cup hangover, although most were expecting that to mean a struggle towards the end rather than right off the bat.

But instead it’s been a slog from day one. A win against Liverpool in the final minute last week felt important to lift the mood at the club because fans weren’t too happy with how things had gone in the early weeks.

Chelsea’s xG dropoff a little worrying

Alejandro Garnacho in action against Lincoln. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Our xG through the first 7 league games last season were: 1, 1.6, 2.4, 0.8, 2.2, 4.2 and 2.3. That means an average of 2.03.

Meanwhile this season we’ve managed 1.6, 2.7, 2.1, 1.3, 0.4, 1.8 and 1.0. That’s way down at 1.56. A drop of nearly 25%.

The teams faced are pretty comparable too – Crystal Palace, West Ham, Fulham Brentford, Man U, Brighton, Liverpool this year compared to Man City, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, West Ham, Brighton, Nottingham Forest last year.

That really backs up the sense you get watching this team – that they’re not quite clicking in attack, especialyl against sides set up to defend.

Hopefully this break has given some key attacking players the chance to refresh and Enzo Maresca the chance to come up with some new ideas to get the team creating chances again.

In other news…

Striker Marc Guiu has been talking about his departure from Barcelona, and it seems that Chelsea really dodged a bullet by snapping him up rather than the more expensive option who had replaced him in Barcelona.

And Blues fans were disturbed by what they saw coming out of Cobham this week, where Levi Colwill returned to work in the gym following his ACL surgery.