Premier League 2022/23 Preview: Chelsea

Predicted finish: 5th 

To say it has been a turbulent spell for Chelsea would be an understatement of sizeable proportions. The Roman Abramovich reign is over. The club has lost center-backs Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers to La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, and Romelu Lukaku, who arrived last summer for a club-record £97.5m fee, has been loaned out to the same club who sold him to the Blues, Inter Milan.

Despite this period of uncertainty and upheaval, Chelsea are now in seemingly safe hands under new owner Todd Boehly and their Champions League winning coach Thomas Tuchel.

After a strong start to the 2021/22 season, Chelsea eventually finished in third. Tuchel’s men were top after 10 matches until hitting a blip in December, starting with a 3-2 defeat against West Ham.

This dip in form coincided with the release of a revelatory interview from Romelu Lukaku stating he was “not happy” with how he was being utilized by Thomas Tuchel.

As the relationship between Lukaku and the Chelsea fanbase deteriorated, Kai Havertz was often deployed as a false nine in a system more befitting of Tuchel’s tactical ideology. The Blues are yet to sign an out and out striker during the summer window and it will be interesting to see how Tuchel integrates Raheem Sterling into the starting XI equation.

The arrival of Kalidou Koulibaly will provide some relief to the Chelsea faithful following the departure of the ever-consistent Rudiger. Tuchel is still short in this position however and will be forced to retain the services of Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso, despite continued interest from big spenders Barcelona.

Chelsea have continually been linked with a move for RB Leipzig’s 20-year-old Croatian