Following a Chelsea victory over Tottenham in the two-leg Carabao Cup semifinal, one thing has become clear; Thomas Tuchel knows how to make trophy runs. After an improbable Champions League Final victory in 2021, the German manager has the Blues back in position for more silverware this season. With Chelsea easily qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League, in the final for the Carabao Cup, and still competing in the FA cup, it should come to no one’s surprise if Chelsea makes another addition or two to their crowded trophy cabinet. With all of this tournament success under Tuchel, it is fair to wonder why these results are not translating to the Premier League. In league play, they have won just one of their last five matches and have slipped to ten points behind Manchester City, who look to be running away with yet another domestic title.
The left back struggles are well-documented following the ACL injury to Ben Chilwell. Many options have been rumored to help the defensively irresponsible Marcos Alonso, from the American star Sergiño Dest to recalling Emerson Palmieri from loan. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Lewis Hall put in a Man of the Match performance against Chesterfield in the FA Cup this past week. However, no matter what the short-term solution ends up being at left back, the main objective that Chelsea needs to focus on is getting Romelu Lukaku firing.
The last two times Chelsea won the Premier League were in 2014-15 and 2016-17, in which Diego Costa scored 20+ league goals in each season. Having a clinical striker that can breakthrough when the team is in a defensive battle, which often happens when they are facing inferior squads that park the bus in hopes for any sort of result like in recent matches against Brighton, Wolverhampton, and Everton, is essential. In those three matches in which Chelsea dropped six points, they mustered just two goals. In the world’s most competitive league, there are very few easy victories, and an inability to finish opportunities has prevented the club from finishing higher than third since their last title-winning season. The recent disputes between Lukaku and the club have been quite public however, in order to get Chelsea back into contention with Manchester City, Tuchel is going to have to put any differences aside. The Belgian striker is the x-factor to help the Blues return to their dominant run in the Premier League.
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