Chelsea’s transfer window left them in a delicate position, to put it lightly, and the recent 2-2 draw against Brentford has illustrated this damningly.

The expectations for Chelsea’s season appear to vary massively depending on who you ask.

The average Chelsea fan appears to think they should be in a title race by this point of the project, and pundits agree.

Some, perhaps the more realistic answer, think Chelsea should only be aiming for cup success with a comfortable top four finish in the Premier League, and the club feels the same way. 

Regardless of expectation, I think it’s a valid claim to suggest that Chelsea should by now have a squad capable of competing for the title at a minimum.

There are many factors that go into a title race and determining whether or not a team is good enough to do it, other than just raw squad quality. 

A certain level of mental fortitude, luck, and squad depth is required to sustain a title charge and actually win the thing.

I think it’s safe to say Chelsea aren’t quite there on all three fronts, despite the mass investment.

The injury scenario

I think Chelsea’s mental fortitude, per se, has massively improved since March 2024.

I personally don’t think Chelsea will go through a rough patch, much like the one in the winter period in the 2024/2025 season.

It’s obviously possible, though the chances are significantly lower. Chelsea provided a performance baseline last season that indicated they’re probably a lot closer to a title than many think.

Chelsea ended up coming fourth with 69 points. Not vastly impressive, though assuming they don’t go an entire month of rough form, that can easily be 5-10 points higher.

With a stronger squad this season, the bare minimum points target, for me, should be around 75 points. 

But, as hinted at, this is heavily reliant on one thing – the fitness of our squad. 

While there have been improvements to the squad, Chelsea still await the majority of incomings to settle in properly.

The team is also thin in key positions, like centre back and in attack, especially with the frequent injuries to Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, and the current injury to Liam Delap.

It’s this ‘thinness’ and reliance on fitness that will likely determine how the season will go.

Of course, nearly all top teams will suffer massively if they have injuries to their top players.

But in my opinion, Chelsea’s specific situation is more ‘flimsy’. With the added injury of Levi Colwill, Chelsea’s defence lies in the hands of Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo, and Josh Acheampong. 

It is an unfortunate reality that none of the three are of the quality yet to be at a top level throughout the entire season.

Badiashile and Fofana represent the best current quality of all the center-backs, though they are nearly always injured.

This thinness of depth is also prevalent up top. With Delap’s injury, Chelsea’s only real ‘9’ is Marc Guiu.

Guiu was signed as a market opportunity for £5m in Summer 2024. Although he has good striking fundamentals, is far from even a short term solution.

What can Maresca do?

The answer, in truth, is very little. However, I do think Maresca, historically, and of the present, utilises his general squad pretty poorly.

This was apparent in the 2-2 draw against Brentford, where Marc Guiu simply wasn’t included, and instead Maresca opted to use Tyrique George. 

While there are certainly squad deficiencies, Maresca cannot afford to slip into the poor rotation rhythm he had last year and must start including players like Andrey Santos more.

Caicedo is only human and will eventually feel the effects of playing literally every single game. 

That being said, Maresca has indeed been left in a dodgy position. No proper CCB means his options to progress from the back are limited.

Marc Guiu isn’t a top-level striker yet. The squad he’s been given is certainly good enough for a top-four finish, but asking him to achieve more would be disingenuous. 

If injuries get worse, we simply cannot blame Maresca. It would be unfair.

And the real people we should be blaming would be the directors who took massive risks this transfer window.