The numbers and reasons behind Chelsea’s abysmal attack

Chelsea has been unbelievably bad in the final third and in front of goal. The West London club’s scoring woes are especially glaring considering that they had their most prolific season in the league and in all competitions last season. The Blues scored 119 goals in 63 games in all competitions last season. In the league, they scored 76 goals, the most since the 2016-17 title-winning season (85).

This season they have scored 36 league goals in the league, and 48 goals in 47 games in all competitions. The drop from 1.9 goals per game last season to 1.02 goals per game this season has left many baffled, especially considering many of the players that featured last season are still at the club. Goals scored can be impacted by many things, so often focusing on the league, let’s take a look at how bad this season has actually been attacking-wise (maybe they’ve just been unlucky).

Chelsea scored two goals per game last season over 38 games. This season that has been halved to 1.03 goals per game. The Blues created 2.5 big chances per game either through skill or opposition errors last season, this season it’s down to 1.8. The big chance numbers are especially embarrassing considering the teams that have better creation numbers than they do.

In terms of expected numbers, Chelsea created 1.82 xG per game last season. These numbers were good enough to rank them 3rd in the league by Game Week 38 in those metrics, and eventually in the league table in points accrued.

Thomas Tuchel’s 2021-22 Blues also scored 74 points, again the most since the last title-winning season (93). This season those numbers have plummeted as well, creating 1.34 xG per game, numbers good enough to put the Blues 10th in those metrics. In terms of points scored, (now) Lampard’s men are 11th (43 points), sitting eight points behind Fulham in 10th place, with a game in hand.