Chelsea is living dangerously and there’s nothing wrong with that

Chelsea sits atop the Premier League following a 1-0 win over Brentford last weekend. The Blues have been in first place for the better part of the last month after kicking the season off in scorching fashion. Thomas Tuchel’s men only slipped up in two matches—the draw against Liverpool and the loss against Manchester City—en route to the fast start in the first quarter of the campaign. For the first time in what seems like forever, Chelsea is setting the pace in the title race early on.

The Blues haven’t won the Premier League since Antonio Conte’s debut season in 2016/17. They have conquered numerous other competitions (FA Cup, Europa League and Champions League) during that time, but the domestic success has been lacking. Chelsea is now sitting pretty following the aforementioned fast start as Tuchel looks to continue his dream start to life in west London. Nevertheless, there seem to be more cracks in the foundation right now than last season under the German.

Chelsea is living dangerously, but the Blues can afford to do so, as long as they keep winning matches

The Blues have gotten results out of every league game except for the clash with City. There are few reasons to gripe about the start; Chelsea hasn’t been beating opponents convincingly though. There have been shaky defensive performances here and woeful attacking play there. It’s been a long time since the Blues put in a complete 90-minute performance they’re capable of putting in every week. Perfection has been achieved once this season: Crystal Palace on opening day.

Other than the domination of the Eagles, Chelsea has had at least one shaky half in every game this year. Goalkeeping excellence and some heads up defense prevented Brentford from equalizing last weekend, but the last half hour was cause for concern for the Blues’ faithful. Chelsea has been living dangerously for the entirety of the campaign. Surely these mistakes will come back to bite the Blues, right? Not exactly. A lot of fans will reference past instances for justification—the successful period before the winter run that resulted in Frank Lampard’s sacking the most recent example. However, this side is different than the one that got regularly outplayed 10 months ago. Tuchel’s Chelsea has better experience, a more adept coaching staff and a deeper squad than the group Lampard oversaw.

On the other side of things, the Blues arguably have not played with their best XI at all this season. Injuries, international breaks and other issues have taken their toll. Tuchel has pieced together improvised squads more times than he’d like to admit; the Brentford starting XI a prime example. The fact the manager has relied on Ross Barkley and Malang Sarr at all is nothing short of remarkable given the photos of the squad’s depth that made their rounds on social media before the season started. Regardless, he’s been able to call upon those individuals and they’ve helped the Blues win points. Chelsea is going to get its full starting XI back, in form, sooner than later.

Furthermore, the Blues’ results thus far are encouraging. Inconsistent performances by shaky teams like the one Lampard managed are worrying. Tuchel’s side grinding out wins is the complete opposite though—it’s reason to celebrate. Hard-fought 1-0 victories and the ability to grab goals late are the qualities that champions possess. It’ll take some time for Chelsea to reach domination levels of Pep Guardiola’s Man City, but for the time being, three points are three points. The Blues can afford to live on the edge a little so long as they continue to win matches. These struggle periods in games will begin to become a problem if they start resulting in dropped points. Right now though, Chelsea tops the Premier League after a relatively tough start, all is well in the world.

Why do you think the Blues have struggled in matches this season? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!