Chelsea are struggling to create chances in front of goal in the Premier League, something that could lead to their title downfall.
Although it seems slightly unfair to criticise Thomas Tuchel’s team when they’re grinding out results, it’s clear that they haven’t been as ruthless in attack than their biggest competitors have been in recent weeks.
The Blues scraped a 1-0 win over Brentford at the weekend, with Ben Chilwell providing the only goal of the game, but they largely relied on Edouard Mendy’s heroics to get them over the line.
Of course, they still won the game, and not every win has to be convincing, nor is it expected to be over the course of a long season.
However, according to the evidence, Chelsea aren’t creating enough chances per 90 minutes, which could come back to bite them in the future.
As per the CIES Football Observatory, Chelsea are on average creating 7.4 ‘big chances’ per game, which is less than Liverpool (10.1), Manchester United (8.6) and Manchester City (8.4).
A ‘big chance’ defines a clear-cut chance to score a goal.
Whilst Tuchel has become known for building a strong defensive foundation, they’ve also conceded the third biggest number of chances out of those four sides, with an average of 5.3 per game.
Meanwhile, City – alongside Rafa Benitez’s Everton – have on average conceded the fewest number of chances in the division (2.6).
The Blues have had injury issues at the back, and there’s certainly less cause for concern in that area, especially as Chelsea have kept 25 clean sheets in the 42 games Tuchel’s been in charge for.
But the figures going forward are slightly more alarming, and if the west London outfit want to sustain their title bid, they’re going to have to improve in that area.
To back that up even more, Chelsea have netted 19 goals in all competitions so far this season. Of those, 15 have either been scored or created by a centre-back or wing-back. Whilst that’s impressive to an extent, it’s also concerning, and their forward men are going to need to contribute more as time goes on.
