Chelsea got back to winning ways in style with a 4-0 victory over Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening. Pressure on Enzo Maresca has increased as of late and with fan protests against the ownership and directors taking place before kick-off, a victory was needed to lift the mood.
Since Nicolas Jackson has been out of the team due to injury, the Blues have looked rather toothless in attack with Cole Palmer struggling for direct contributions in the attacking third, but a new system looks set to change that.
Pedro Neto has struggled to impact proceedings from out wide, but as a central striker that drifts into spaces rather than dropping back, as Christopher Nkunku was doing, he has impressed. While the opponent has to be factored into that success, he looked bright against Aston Villa the previous weekend.
With those attacking problems seemingly solved for the time being, attention has turned onto the defence. Though a clean sheet was kept against the Saints, context is important with Filip Jorgensen and his defenders rarely troubled with Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella actually impacting the game in the final third.
Maresca has used almost every defensive option available to him which included academy ace Josh Acheampong and recalling Trevoh Chalobah from his loan at Crystal Palace. Due to three injuries, Colwill has been partnered by Tosin Adarabioyo in the last two games, but that could be about to change.
While Chalobah has only suffered a minor injury, Wesley Fofana was the centre-back named in the matchday squad on Tuesday. The Frenchman has not played for Chelsea since suffering a hamstring injury in early December during the 3-0 win against Aston Villa.
Just a few weeks ago, there was talk of Fofana possibly being out for the season and yet he has returned in late February with nine games still to play. As two defenders scored and no goals were conceded, his return has somewhat been glossed over, but it could actually define Chelsea’s season.
Though some big wins still arrived after he was made unavailable, the Blues’ huge drop-off came with him out of the team. In Premier League action, Chelsea have been able to stop just one team from scoring with 17 goals conceded from ten games.
While Colwill has featured throughout, he has played alongside four different players for a number of reasons with consistency hard to build as a result.
Maresca will want to ease Fofana back into the fold but if that can become his centre-back partnership for the final months of the season, Chelsea could go on another impressive run of results in their pursuit of Champions League football.
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