One of most unfortunate things about Chelsea’s loss to Arsenal this weekend was how expected it felt. Even though the Blues were riding high off advancing in the UEFA Conference League and two straight Premier League wins, the mood around Chelsea fans was dark and pessimistic.
This mood was darkened further when the team sheet was released and Cole Palmer was not even in the matchday squad due to injury. Chelsea fans also saw goalkeeper Robert Sanchez listed as the starter and that did not help the mood either.
The pessimism around the match was likely due to the feeling that Chelsea never seemed to win big games anymore. Every time they played one of the top clubs in England, whether in the league or in a cup competition, they have seemed to fall short in recent years.
Unfortunately that feeling has been backed up with facts as Simon Johnson of The Athletic pointed out in a recent article where he shared the extent of Chelsea's struggles against the top sides in the league. According to Johnson, Chelsea have just one win against the other members of the “big six” in the last 26 matches.
"If it wasn’t for Cole Palmer scoring the latest winner in Premier League history against Manchester United in the 101st minute back in April (Chelsea went into stoppage time 3-2 down that day), they would have no wins against United, Liverpool, Arsenal and City in all competitions over 26 matches."Simon Johnson
Johnson includes Tottenham in a depressing little table he included in his article and shows that they are the one side the Blues have managed to defeat with regularity over that period. In the last 5 matches against Spurs, the Blues have 3 wins, a draw, a loss, and have scored 12 goals while conceding 8. It’s not great but at least it’s better than 9 straight losses to Manchester City across all competitions.
So what’s behind this shocking change where the Blues, who once used to dominate or at least contend with these clubs, are now struggling to even get a result? You can't even blame the manager as these struggles have happened under Graham Potter, Mauricio Pocchetino, and now Enzo Maresca. The simple fact is that Chelsea used to have big game players with big game experience and now they are sorely lacking in that category.
There are a select few in the club who have won big games like Marc Cucurella winning the Euros with Spain or Enzo Fernandez winning the World Cup with Argentina, but only Reece James has done this with Chelsea. James was part of the squad that won the 2021 Champions League and played all 90 minutes in the final victory over Manchester City.
The Blues used to have battle-hardened players like John Terry, Frank Lampard, and several others that are too numerous to mention that were leading the line for them. There was also a generational handoff of sorts from the Mourinho era stars to those that won the Premier League in 2016-17 and then on to the Champions League in ’21.
The DNA of winning at Chelsea was deeply ingrained in these players by the legacy of their predecessors that stuck around a little longer and that has been lost. Reece James is the only connection left to the Chelsea glory of the recent past with not a single other player remaining from the squad that won the Club World Cup in 2022.
This approach of buying young players and hoping that they turn world class may one day pay off and the Blues will get back to beating these top clubs once again. But for now, there are major struggles when facing the elite competition and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.