Chelsea enter a season of uncertainty and therein lies the potential

Five days of waiting remain. What happens then as Chelsea start the Premier League season and then into the Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup is all anyone can think or talk about. More than usual, nothing is for sure.

Chelsea fans will be tasting all the types of emotions from the day first of new season. The beginning itself is with two teams who once were used to being the leaders of English football year after year. This time, both clubs will be looking to start with authority and show off their capabilities to earn the confidence of their fans. A loss against a rival for the top four is the worst possible start for teams in Chelsea’s and Manchester United’s position, but a merely avoids the rage of media and fans.

Chelsea will struggle for a top four finish. Though the squad is young and fresh, by the end of December, Chelsea will start struggling with their squad as they are in the thick of three – and, early in the new year, four – competitions.

Teams like Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester City and Everton will do their best to damage the dreams of the teams above them. This season 75 points might not guarantee a top four finish, given the way Manchester City and Liverpool played during the Community Shield and the parity in the teams just behind them.

The Champions League will be the surprise package for this year as Chelsea will be the side to look forward. Cobham’s young talent with the combination of some experience will make Chelsea a fierce side in Europe. They could conceivably go as far as the quarterfinals with the need for only one real upset.

Such an early European exit will help the Blues in the later rounds of the FA Cup. After last year’s EFL Cup final and what Frank Lampard learned as a player about taking that competition seriously, domestic silverware is very much within reach at Stamford Bridge.

Lampard will start experiencing the normal pressure that comes with the job before the winter break, and it will continue until the end of January. During this period, the management and players will be showing their open support towards the ex-midfielder. In the critical period of March and April, he will win the fans like never before, and the results will be heartwarming. The spirit around the club will overshadow the inevitable losses and this is will be time that his assurance for coaching another season will be approved.

Injuries, as always, will be the real problem to look after. Lampard will rotate his squad and do what he can to minimize the wear and tear on the players, but sometimes fortune strikes darkly. Lampard somehow must get the best out of every player, regardless of where on the depth chart they start the season.

By the end of the season, Lampard will know exactly what he needs to do over the summer to build the squad and position them to grow upon his first year in charge.

Every season has its uncertainty, but Lampard will weather the worst of it in his debut year and things will smooth out from there.