Chelsea have been going crazy in the transfer market this summer with the Blues already spending over £200 million and they’re yet to buy a goalkeeper.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard took the gamble with a very young and inexperienced squad with whom he finished 4th last season and is now reaping the rewards in the form of Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva and more.
With all these new additions to the Chelsea squad, there’s a huge sense of excitement among the Fantasy Premier League community and we’re giving you another treat by doing a detailed analysis of Chelsea’s new signings this season. Let’s get started.
1. Hakim Ziyech
We’ll be doing this in the same order as the they were announced.
Before speaking about Hakim Ziyech, I’m sure you must have seen his wonderful diagonal pass against Brighton in the pre-season game. Wonderful, isn’t it?
Back in November 2019, it was Hakim Ziyech who turned out to be the best player on the pitch in a 4-4 draw between Chelsea and Ajax at Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard’s Chelsea were in the receiving end of three deadly assists from Ziyech and it was at that moment Frank identified Chelsea’s ideal left-footed winger since Arjen Robben.
What is Hakim Ziyech’s position?
Hakim Ziyech plays as a central attacking midfielder (CAM) who can play as a right winger, left winger and even fill in at midfield if needed.
What’s interesting about Hakim Ziyech is that you won’t find him inside the box a lot often like Mo Salah and Raheem Sterling. Ziyech’s game is creating a lot of chances for his teammates and he can do it from anywhere on the pitch, plus he has the ability to shoot from very long distances and of course he will be on set-piece duty too.
| Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attacking Midfield | 178 | 62 | 72 |
| Right Winger | 73 | 29 | 34 |
| Central Midfield | 34 | 5 | 15 |
| Left Winger | 13 | 1 | 2 |
| Right Midfield | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Left Midfield | 2 | - | - |
| Centre Forward | 1 | - | - |
| Second Striker | 1 | 1 | - |
Expectations from Hakim Ziyech
The expectations from Hakim Ziyech is simple, get in the positions, hit your signature diagonal cross into the box and let the others do the rest.
It isn’t going to be easy for someone like Hakim Ziyech who comes from the Eridivisie to perform the same numbers in the Premier League. There will be an adapting period for him like everyone else. There will be players who will close him down much quicker than in the Dutch League. So, it remains to be seen how Hakim Ziyech adapts to a much physical league and if he can be the wizard of London.
Now, that Ziyech is playing in the Premier League, obviously the Mahrez comparisons will pop up and let’s do one for ourselves here and see how Ziyech does in comparison to the top wingers in the league.
2. Timo Werner
Timo Werner was destined to join Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool but a quick turnaround of events saw the RB Leipzig man sign for league rivals Chelsea. This is one player Liverpool might regret losing and could come back to haunt them.
What is Timo Werner’s position?
Timo Werner is basically an Inside-forward who plays as a hybrid in between the striker and the winger. The advantage of having an inside forward in your team is that they can play as a lone striker, two-man strikers and even as a winger if needed (would be crucial at Chelsea since both Christian Pulisic and CHO have been unlucky with injuries). It’s anyone guess at this point about how Frank Lampard will use him as he also rates Tammy Abraham who scored 15 goals in his breakthrough season at Chelsea.
| Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre Forward | 207 | 114 | 51 |
| Left Winger | 41 | 6 | 3 |
| Right Winger | 18 | 4 | - |
| Second Striker | 9 | 4 | 3 |
Expectations from Timo Werner
As you can see in the graph above, Timo Werner has consistently scored in double figures in his last 4 season in the Bundesliga and his career best of 28 goals in the 19/20 season under Julian Naglesmann. This doesn’t mean that he’ll come and score 20+ goals in the Premier League in his first season. It depends on a lot of factors including how Chelsea play, how he will settle in the squad etc.
If you look at Chelsea’s stats in the 2019/20 season, the Blues created 463 chances (2nd in the league) and scored 69 goals (3rd in the league). Now, if we compare the conversion rate, Chelsea have the worst CR compared to the traditional top 6 this season (15.44%). To put into context, Man City and Liverpool have a conversion rate of 19.5% and 19.34% respectively. This shows that Chelsea lack a clinical finisher in the final third. Tammy Abraham, despite scoring 15 goals in his breakthrough season at Chelsea also missed 22 big chances (2nd highest in the league) which is normal for a young player as they need to develop the killer instinct as they grow.
Let’s compare Timo Werner’s conversion rate with Premier League’s top strikers and see the quality of striker the Blues are getting.
Timo Werner is right up there with the likes of Jamie Vardy and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, which shows the clinical ability of the German International. It will be interesting to see if he can improve on these stats in the Premier League.
About settling into the squad, Werner might not have a lot of difficulties as there are already some German speaking players in the dressing room with the likes of Rudiger, Kovacic and Kai Havertz too.
3. Ben Chilwell
Chelsea’s left-backs Emerson and Marcos Alonso have struggled to make an impact this season and sorting out the LB position was one of their priorities heading into the transfer window.
Why Ben Chilwell?
This has sparked a lot of debate among Chelsea fans as they see other players like Alex Telles, Nicolas Tagliafico and Sergio Reguilon as better options than the England International. However, what gives Chilwell the edge over the others is that he has the Premier League experience which means it won’t take him long to adapt to his new club. On top of that, he’s just 23 years old and that settles the left back position for almost a decade. Also, Chelsea legend Ashley Cole is a big fan of the former Leicester man and that could surely have an influence on Lampard’s decision.
What does Ben Chilwell offer to Chelsea?
Ben Chilwell offers pace in the backline which is beneficial in the attacking phase while making overlapping runs and in the defensive phase to make recoveries as Chelsea like to play a high line. Ben is also comfortable with his feet and can play quick passes to beat the press. This has been a real weakness with Marcos Alonso as the opponents often use to press him which leads to him giving away possession or committing to fouls. However, the most important factor for FPL fans in crossing, which he is pretty fine at, he can improve though.
Criticism with Ben Chilwell
With a big price tag comes big expectations and a lot of the Premier League fans aren’t convinced with Ben Chilwell as a top left-back in the league, even some Leicester City fans think Chilwell is not good enough. Did he underperform at Leicester City? Well, defensively Chilwell has been decent but attacking wise you’d feel he could have done much better and Brendan Rodgers’ tactics had a big part to play in that. Leicester City have next to nothing in their wing play and their only threat in goal is Jamie Vardy. I presume he would do better in a system with wingers, making those overlapping runs alongside Christian Pulisic would add some serious threat in the wings.
4. Thiago Silva
Thiago Silva is the biggest name in this list with probably the least expectations out of the lot. Don’t get me wrong, Thiago Silva at 35 is still better than most defenders at what he does.
In a market where there are not a lot of centre-backs available, signing one of the best defenders of this generation on a free transfer is some smart piece of business. But with Thiago Silva, there’s one short simple question.
Does he still have it?
Just a few weeks ago, Thiago Silva was leading his team against Bayern Munich who has the best attack in Europe and they conceded only one goal whereas they scored eight past Barcelona and four past Chelsea. Not everyone can keep Robert Lewandowski calm for 90 minutes you know. So, the answer is yes he still got it.
Thiago Silva is slow, he will get exposed in the Premier League!
Surely, this has been a concern for Chelsea fans and just one of the few things for rivals fans to banter them. The step from the French League to the Premier League is a huge one, the game is much faster, physical and aggressive. It’s anyone guess as to how he’ll adapt to the Premier League. However, Thiago Silva has the experience, the footballing IQ to get himself into great positions and he was part of a high line in the PSG defense not only in Ligue 1 but the UCL too. Yeah he had Marquinhos and Kimpembe alongside him to sweep up the ball but Thiago Silva did it himself for his them too.
What does Thiago Silva offer to Chelsea?
Thiago Silva offers the most important factor which the Chelsea defense lacked last season, composure. In the whole of last season, you can see the defensive line backpedaling and running for their lives everytime there is an attacking opportunity. No doubt the likes of Christensen, Rüdiger, Zouma and Tomori are good defenders but they lack a certain leadership and that’s where Frank Lampard would hope Thiago Silva to make the difference. Apart from that, Thiago Silva is comfortable with playing from the back, he can make the passes between the lines which Chelsea have struggled with last season.
5. Kai Havertz
Kai Havertz is regarded as a ‘Generational Talent’ in Germany and is one of the most wanted young players in Europe. Kai, for me, comes under the same bracket as Eden Hazard in terms of the excitement. This is not me saying that Kai Havertz is on the same level as Eden Hazard yet. They’re very different players.
What does Kai Havertz offer to Chelsea?
When you ask any journalist in Germany, “What’s so special in Kai Havertz”? They’ll simply tell you – “He’s not just world class in one position, he’s world class in 4-5 positions. Yeah that’s right, the versatility Kai offers will be valuable to Chelsea since they’ll be playing 55-60 games this season. Kai Havertz can play as a CAM, CM, RW and even as a false 9.
To add to that, Kai Havertz is so calm and composed in front of goal you would feel he isn’t even trying. That’s how good he is. Also, Kai’s passing ability is so good, he can play that perfect pass with the perfect weight on it. If you get him on your FPL team, you won’t be disappointed.
What is Kai Havertz position?
As mentioned above, Kai Havertz can play in 4-5 positions at a top level, Frank Lampard would have a headache regarding his team selection every game. However, from what I have seen, it’s looks like Frank really wants to go with a 4-3-3 formation with one CDM and two #8s or the central midfielders. Kai will most likely be playing in the right side of the midfield adding a new dimension to Chelsea’s game. Chelsea often lacked left-footed players in their squad if you look at last season’s squad, the only left footed players I can recall are Marcos Alonso and Emerson. Kai playing at RCM would also allow him to inter-change with Ziyech at times to break down teams who defend deep.
| Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attacking Midfield | 88 | 19 | 21 |
| Right Winger | 42 | 17 | 9 |
| Central Midfield | 21 | 5 | 1 |
| Centre Forward | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Left Winger | 6 | - | 1 |
Expectations from Kai Havertz
Surely there will be a lot of expectations on Kai Havertz and rivals fans will be waiting for that one mistake to banter him on Twitter, but you have to realize he’s just 21-years old, he’s not the finished product. Some limitations to Kai’s game is his defensive work rate which is poor and his pressing which is really important while playing under Frank Lampard. It will take time to develop these parts of his game but he has a great future ahead of him.
Finally, which three Chelsea players should you look towards bringing in this season in FPL?
For me, it’s a very tough one as there are so many options from Ben Chilwell to Kai Havertz to Christian Pulisic to Timo Werner. My first pick would be Hakim Ziyech, he has a good footballing IQ and often gets in great positions to assist. He can also cross from anywhere on the pitch. Secondly, I will go with Timo Werner, you have to. Werner is a goal machine, he’s got the pace, the finishing ability. Once he adapts to English football, it’s going to rain goals. My third choice and possibly the hardest one, I would go for Reece James. Cheap, starter and tremendous crossing ability, now that Chelsea’s have improved their defense Reece James becomes a good differential in the game.
So, with this our article comes to an end. I hope you liked it and let us know which three Chelsea players would your prefer on your FPL team in the comments below.
