How to solve a problem like Chelsea's goalscoring woes

Tuesday night's shock defeat to second-tier Middlesbrough in the League Cup semi-finals first leg encapsulated everything about Chelsea since the start of last season, both the good and the bad – mainly the bad.

Let's start with the good (it won't take long): Chelsea once again dominated possession, controlling 72 per cent of the ball, and created a fair few chances, taking 18 shots with five on target.

Now for the bad: Chelsea couldn't score, nor avoid defeat.

The 1-0 loss at Riverside Stadium, courtesy of Hayden Hackney's 37th-minute goal, was Chelsea's 31st defeat dating back to the beginning of the 2022/23 campaign. Of clubs currently in the Premier League, only Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest (32) have lost more matches in that time.

Yet, no top-flight club can match Chelsea's abysmal record of 21 away defeats in that same time period.

Questionable game management and defensive issues have played their part in the Blues' ongoing misery, but the biggest contributing factor continues to be their struggles in front of goal.

A recent overall upturn in league form means Chelsea now have the seventh-best scoring record in the division – a significant improvement on last season, when only four clubs scored fewer goals – but of their eight defeats in the Premier League this campaign, seven could arguably have had different outcomes were the Blues more clinical.

As a consequence, Chelsea languish 10th in the table, and unless Mauricio Pochettino finds a way to solve his team's profligacy then another year without European football surely beckons.

So, how does the Blues manager go about fixing this particular, and glaring, problem? These are the options available to the Argentine.

The very virtues Pochettino has been