Chelsea players ahead of 2015/16 full-season marks after 11 games
By George Perry
Chelsea are consigning many unpleasant memories of the 2015/16 campaign to the bin with their start to this Premier League season. After only 11 games, several players have already exceeded last year’s full-season stats.
Eden Hazard has had the most dramatic return to form under Antonio Conte. The Chelsea winger already has seven Premier League goals this season, after scoring just four in the entire previous campaign.
Hazard’s desultory performance last year is proving to be nothing more than a vexing outlier in his progression to the pinnacle of world football. He is not alone in bouncing back from those depths with a vengeance. Several of his teammates have also out-stripped their 2015/16 season-long totals, or are already have career-best seasons along different dimensions.
Nemanja Matic and Pedro: Assist leaders
Nemanja Matic and Pedro share the lead for most assists at Chelsea, and are also tied for second-most in the Premier League. Matic briefly held the top spot in the league in preceding weeks.
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Their five assists each top last season’s total, when Pedro had two assists in 29 appearances and Matic had two assists in 33 appearances. Matic has already set a new career-best for helpers, breaking his personal record of four in 2013/14.
Pedro is well on his way to also setting a new personal best. His current mark is eight assists for Barcelona in 2013/14.
Thibaut Courtois: Clean sheets
Thibaut Courtois has been between the pipes for all 450 minutes of Chelsea’s defensive perfection in the 3-4-3. He has had little to do in that time, with his defenders and N’Golo Kante consistently limiting the opposition to fewer and fewer shots in each game. Chelsea only permitted Everton one shot, and that looped airily over Courtois to go out of play.
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Courtois had five clean sheets in the Premier League last season. Two of those were scoreless draws, against Manchester United and Watford. Courtois is making fewer saves per game while allowing fewer goals per game, testifying to how much his teammates are making his life easier.
The lanky Belgian may end up requesting a transfer back to Atletico Madrid just so he has something more to do than stand around and watch. In the meantime, he might want to find a hobby back there.
Victor Moses: Goals at Chelsea
Victor Moses’ time in the loan army wilderness overshadows his auspicious start at Chelsea. Moses made 23 Premier League appearances in 2012/13, primarily under then-manager Rafael Benitez. He scored one goal in that campaign, Chelsea’s lone tally in a draw with Swansea City.
Moses has already doubled his Premier League output, getting on the board against Burnley and Leicester City.
Honorable mention: Chelsea’s place on the table
Last year after matchweek 11, Chelsea were in 15th place on 11 points, and 4 points clear of the drop zone. Chelsea had a -6 goal differential and had only won once in their previous five matches.
The Blues currently sit in second place in the Premier League, a single point behind Liverpool. Chelsea’s 25 points are half of last season’s total, when 50 points parked the club in 10th place.
Next: Relentless: Chelsea never stopped pursuing sixth goal against Everton