Here are words I do not get to type very often: I have nothing to be negative about regarding Chelsea this weekend.
Some readers of The Athletic, or regular listeners to the Straight Outta Cobham podcast, might regard this as a collector’s item. Perhaps mark the moment down on a piece of paper so you can remember it for posterity or even as a souvenir of the 2024-25 season? A possible ‘You have to see it to believe it’ moment.
When you report on a club like Chelsea, there is plenty of opportunity to criticise and highlight where things are going wrong. Since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium bought the club in May 2022, there have been more bad moments than good, more drama than stability.
If you have to write about lots of doom and gloom, it can have an impact on how you are perceived. Let’s just say this writer is fully aware of how he is regarded as a tad pessimistic, some might say miserable.
Let me provide a few arguments in my defence.
It is what naturally happens when your 50th birthday is on the horizon. I prefer to think it is more a case of being honest and realistic, having covered the club for more than 20 years. A reporter’s job is not to be confused with acting as a cheerleader and turning a blind eye to the bad stuff.
Anyway, brace yourself as I attempt to go a whole piece without a single grumble, a caveat or a ‘but’.
Let’s get to the point… or should I say all three of them.
Chelsea’s 3-0 win against West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday was just the kind of serene day everyone connected to the club was looking for, and needed. It was one of those rare moan-free games among the Chelsea contingent in the crowd. There was not a tut or groan to be heard.
Going into this fixture, Chelsea had won just once at West Ham in seven visits, so it would have been understandable if people were a little apprehensive. The weather forecast warned of thunderstorms and heavy rain as well. But instead late-summer sunshine lit up Chelsea’s display throughout.
It helped that West Ham gave Nicolas Jackson the freedom of east London to score the opening goal after four minutes. Goalkeeper Alphonse Areola also left a gap between his legs almost as wide as the nearby Dartford Tunnel, which allows road traffic to pass under the River Thames, for him to knock the ball through.
Jackson had his second 14 minutes later. The style of football Chelsea hired head coach Enzo Maresca this summer to provide was on show as a neat move ended with Moises Caicedo, a player fewer and fewer mock about the £115million ($153m at the current exchange rate) price tag that brought him to the club 13 months ago, playing in Jackson to double the lead.
The Senegal international striker’s display provided more evidence the club now have a €35million (£29.3m/$39.1m at current rates) bargain on their hands following his arrival in that same summer 2023 window. After setting up Cole Palmer to make it 3-0 shortly after half-time, Jackson has 23 goal involvements (16 goals, seven assists) in his past 29 Premier League starts, and 11 (eight goals, three assists) in 10.
There in the posh seats to see it were Chelsea’s co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. You had to check the monitor in the press box a few times to believe it. They were not just at the same game, a rarity in the past year, but actually sitting next to each other. The image was extraordinary, given it is just two weeks since news of their ‘palpable discord’ — thanks to Chelsea’s former technical director Michael Emenalo for that gem of a quote to sum up a major divide when he was interviewed about the club’s decision to sack Jose Mourinho in 2015 — came to light.
Some of the footage caught on camera did not reflect the warmest rapport between the two. Other photos did capture them appearing to exchange a few words at least. One showed Eghbali holding a small bit of paper. A cheque to buy out Boehly’s stake? No, it was just his match ticket.
So were they counting down the minutes to the final whistle so they could get away from any awkwardness and each other as fast as possible? Nope. When the match was over, the influential duo headed down to the away dressing room. “They were in the changing room, they were all happy,” Maresca said. “It’s always good when we win games for them. As you said, because they were both here, we can give them some good moments.”
If being together like this gets this kind of result then, instead of divorcing, should they hang out together more often? Why go their separate ways just when all their efforts are starting to bear fruit?
Careful, Simon, you’re in danger of wandering off upbeat mode here.
OK. Here are some good-looking stats to remain on message:
- Maresca is the first manager or head coach to win his first three Premier League away games at a club since Pep Guardiola did it with Manchester City in 2016.
- Since the start of May, Chelsea have won more Premier League points than any other club (25 — played 10, won eight, drawn one) — although they have played two more games than City (24; played eight, won eight) in that time, and three more than Arsenal (19; played seven, won six, drawn one).
- Chelsea have scored 10 times in their three away league games this season. This figure is only bettered in club history by their 1925-26 side, who got 13 in the same period. And with 11 goals in total, they are the division’s joint top scorers with champions City (before their game against Arsenal on Sunday).
- Since Palmer made his Chelsea debut last September, only City’s Erling Haaland (44) has more goals for a Premier League club in all competitions than his 27.
Oh and to finish off, a once-porous defence has kept back-to-back clean sheets in the league, following last Saturday’s 1-0 away win against Bournemouth.
OK, that’s enough positivity for one article. I need to go for a lie-down.
(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
