Look around you and be honest: Chelsea are in a really good place right now

Football fans like to be dramatic, especially when they are hunting for clicks and retweets. Even a sober, neutral assessment reveals Chelsea in a very good place, especially compared to their rivals.

Things are suspiciously quiet regarding Tammy Abraham, who limped around with a painful-looking ankle injury for the last 10 minutes of Chelsea’s draw against Arsenal. His inability to close down Hector Bellerin allowed the right back to rifle home the equalizer in the 87′, as Mikel Arteta’s side at least partially returned the favor for Chelsea’s late winner at the Emirates just a month prior.

While Abraham’s injury certainly adds an extra layer of stress, it’s no secret Chelsea have been in the market for a striker all month. The biggest names floating around are Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani and Moussa Dembele from Lyon. At this point, neither player looks particularly interested in a move to London.

It’s certainly not an ideal situation with little more than a week left before the transfer window closes…excuse me, SLAMS SHUT.

And yet, despite the current sense of desperation and exasperation, Chelsea are in a pretty good spot compared to most of their top-four rivals.

Just look at Manchester United. They made the mistake of bringing on Marcus Rashford — who was already carrying an injury — as a sub against Wolves in their FA Cup replay. Sixteen minutes later, he hobbled off the field. It was then revealed that he had been playing with stress fractures in his back, and would be unavailable for the next two to three months.

In a season of mismanagement by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, this was his most inexcusable blunder. Rashford’s absence leaves Anthony Martial as the only experienced center forward in the squad.

Head down to the still unbranded Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Harry Kane’s season looks to be done after tearing his left hamstring earlier this month. While Kane has been plagued by injuries almost every season, this is by far the most devastating one yet. Lucas Moura and Heung-Min Son are the two potential replacements, but neither of them are out-and-out strikers.

Arsenal, who are still languishing down in tenth place, have a healthy but wantaway Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Several sources are reporting that he has “agreed” to a potential move to Barcelona, who themselves are in the market for a replacement for Luis Suarez. A transfer of that magnitude probably won’t happen in January, but a disgruntled, apathetic, Christian Eriksen-esque rest of the season could certainly be in the cards. The chronically misfiring Alexandre Lacazette is Arteta’s only other seasoned option up top.

Even Leicester City, in third with a comfy eight point cushion, saw Jamie Vardy go down with a muscle injury against West Ham on Wednesday. Brendan Rodgers said it was nothing serious, but any injury at this point in the season can mean missing several matches.

It’s a bit rich, then, that Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are the ones moaning about fixture congestion and concern about injuries.

All of this is to say that, even if Chelsea are in a concerning run of form, the current landscape in the race for that last Champions League spot is decidedly in the Blues’ favor.

There has been plenty of focus on the upcoming run of tough matches, but it’s looking likely that Chelsea will face Leicester, Manchester United, and Tottenham without Vardy, Rashford, and Kane, respectively.

They’ll also have the Premier League’s quasi-winter break in there as well. As tough as the schedule looks on paper, there are reasons to be optimistic.

As for the transfer market, it might be best to keep the powder dry for now. Perhaps getting the transfer ban reduced was more to prove a point than to facilitate bringing in new players this winter.

Chelsea have a bad track record of bringing in underwhelming forwards in January. Might as well save the money.

The irony is that if you’re looking for decent low-cost strikers, Michy Batshuyai and Olivier Giroud might just be the two best players available. Maybe all they need are more minutes. Or, in Giroud’s case, any minutes at all. If Abraham is set for a spell in the physio room, the opportunities could be there for both players, especially for Giroud if his move to Inter falls through.

Once again, Chelsea are in a surprisingly good place.

Even more exciting is where that transfer money could be spent. Fresh rumors of a summer move for Jadon Sancho have emerged from Sport Bild and the Daily Mail, as Dortmund begin to line up potential replacements. While Chelsea’s rivals raid their vaults in a panic to overpay for the likes of Bruno Fernandes or Willian Jose, Roman Abramovich can patiently stack his rubles to prepare for a summer of high stakes action.

For the first time in a few seasons, Chelsea can enter a summer transfer window in a position of financial strength.

Looking at the big picture, it’s worth keeping in mind how low the expectations were heading into this season. Frank Lampard was set to keep his job as long as he avoided relegation. Chelsea sit on 40 points now, so they should be safe.

Fans wanted to see exciting, attacking football. They’re getting it, even if it proves haphazard at times. A youth revolution was promised, and a youth revolution was delivered. Lampard outsmarted Jose Mourinho. That wasn’t even remotely on anyone’s radar.

It really is a good time to support Chelsea.

The disappointments have been there, but there have been way more highs than lows so far, whether in results or individual breakout performances. Even the Newcastle and Arsenal matches featured excellent performances by Reece James and Callum Hudson-Odoi. For the more cynical fans, there have been some downright comical performances from Arsenal, Manchester United, and Spurs. It’s a weird season all around the league, but Chelsea have been one of the bright spots.

Chelsea are likable, exciting, and promising. It’s everything you could’ve hoped for heading into the season. Having a great chance to finish in fourth is just gravy.