Chelsea: Bold predictions for all things Blue in the 2019/20 season

Chelsea are just a few days away from opening their Premier League season under Frank Lampard. Here are our writers’ predictions for the club, some ex’s and a few others around the league.

Chelsea are in four competitions, have three ex-managers competing in Serie A and loanees scattered around England and Europe. How will things shake out for the extended Chelsea family? Who will surprise and who will induce regret? Who will take all the blame and what words will you tire of hearing? Read on…

1. What will be the Premier League top four?

Scott Brant: Manchester City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea.

Sourav Mahanty: Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea.

Travis Tyler: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs.

Kevin Peacock: Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal.

George Perry: Chelsea (delusional, yes, but a three-peat for City or a title for Liverpool are too odious to contemplate), Tottenham (Chelsea are at their best when Spurs keep the pressure on!), Manchester City, Arsenal.

Abhishek Pancholi: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United. Frank Lampard will guide Chelsea into the top four at the first time of asking. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s Manchester United will also manage to qualify for the Champions League, thanks to Arsenal’s inability to defend and Spurs’ ability to bottle it right at the death.

Barrett Rouen: Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea.

Karan Saini: Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea. Manchester City to win the Premier League again, with Liverpool missing out… again. Spurs will be impressive but, in classic fashion, Spurs will be trophy less. Chelsea, without any new signings and losing Eden Hazard, should be able to sneak in the top four.

Olaoluwa Nwobodo: Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham. Liverpool outplayed City in the Community City, so they get the nod this time around.

Nate Hofmann: Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, (huge points gap…) Chelsea!

Gabe Henderson: Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs.

2. Which Chelsea player will surprise the most?

Kevin: N’Golo Kante. People will be amazed to see that Kante is actually quite good as a defensive midfielder. Well, I never.

Olaoluwa: People kept talking about misunderstood players last season, but most of them did not know who it was. It wasn’t Jorginho. It was Mateo Kovacic. Kovacic was scapegoated last season because his Italian colleague was exonerated – celebrated, even – for not scoring or assisting, Kovacic was shoehorned into a role not meant for him. Now that he’ll play in a position more suited to his skillset, we’ll see just what he is made of.

Travis: Tammy Abraham will, eventually, show that his Championship scoring can translate over to the Premier League when surrounded by Premier League-level players. He will hit a stride and start to pull ahead of Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi in the striker conversation.

Abhishek: Jorginho. The Italian midfielder will emerge from the second-hand smoke and show that he is capable of more than just cleaning ashtrays and passing the ball to his nearest teammate.

Scott: Ross Barkley. He will be fully fit and healthy, plus playing with an added freedom under Frank Lampard while wearing the No. 8.

Sourav: Mateo Kovacic. He has looked class in the pivot role during preseason.

Nate: Willian has at least 10 goals and 10 assists in the Premier League, justifying his No. 10 shirt.

Barrett: Tammy Abraham. He’s a goal scorer, will be excellent and will show that Chelsea should not have been trying to buy No. 9’s all this time.

Gabe: After a series of disappointing seasons, Ross Barkley will thrive under Frank Lampard.

3. Which academy grad will save Chelsea the most money by becoming a best XI regular

Scott: Mason Mount. He is going to turn some heads around football. There is a lot of things to be excited about, and Mount is towards the top of that list.

Sourav: Callum Hudson-Odoi. Chelsea would have had to spend a lot to replace Hazard.

Travis: Chelsea being Chelsea, the club will surely go for a striker no matter how well Tammy Abraham does. Long term, Fikayo Tomori saves Chelsea from having to buy a new centerback as he replaces David Luiz.

Kevin: Tammy Abraham. The club definitely do need to buy a striker but cannot. This is Tambraham’s chance to go all the way, he’ll surely grab it with Lampard and Jody Morris pushing him.

Abhishek: Tammy Abraham. It takes a lot of courage to wear the No. 9 at Chelsea and this kid has that in spades. After a shaky start Abraham will grow into the shirt, scoring 15+ goals in the Premier League.

Barrett: Abraham or Mount.

Karan: Abraham should save Chelsea a fortune if he excels in the role the Blues have been trying to fill since Diego Costa left.

4. Who will we regret Chelsea loaning or selling?

Barrett: Ethan Ampadu because he’s the best centerback in the side, but for some reason they ignore this and make a whole bunch of other excuses as to why he can’t play there or why others should instead. He’s already better than Luiz, Christensen, Zouma and Tomori. Happy he got a good loan rather than being wasted, but he was, is and always will be good enough to be at the heart of Chelsea’s side.

Travis: Daishawn Redan will be the biggest selling regret and Ethan Ampadu the biggest loaning regret. In a year where the strikers are covered in question marks, Redan could have been a surprise dark horse. Ampadu will go into RB Leipzig and look like an amazing player. He will develop well but there will be many moments where Chelsea fans will wish he was in Blue this season.

Scott: Eden Hazard, at least until the Blues get to spend some of that money or Christian Pulisic takes over Stamford Bridge with his exciting play.

Gabe: Ola Aina, who will have a fantastic career when it’s all said and done.

Abhishek: Callum Hudson-Odoi, when he is inevitably sold to Bayern Munich on deadline day after his latest excuse for not signing the contract – Mercury in retrograde – proves to be the last straw.

Sourav: Eden Hazard, of course, not that there was much to be done about it.

George: Fikayo Tomori or Ethan Ampadu, because David Luiz.

Nate: Bakay… lol,  jk.  Daishawn Redan looks like the second coming at Hertha Berlin.

Kevin: Danny Drinkwater’s departure will see the subs much reduced in the Ex-Chelsea Player’s Benevolent Fund, as fundraising activities drop following Secretary Drinkwater’s banishment.

Olaoluwa: Tiemoue Bakayoko. It’s a long season and Chelsea could use every player they have, especially midfielders. Taking into account workload, injuries and rotation,  Bakayoko would come in handy in games where Lampard needs to rest players.