One-man team? 

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Chelsea will be hoping to enact some immediate revenge on Friday night when they return to the AMEX Stadium to face Brighton for the second time in six days. On Saturday the two clubs locked horns in the fourth round of the FA Cup, which saw the Seagulls progress with a 2-1 win. As such, Enzo Maresca and his team will not only be hoping to quickly get back to winning ways against their top-flight opponents but will also be keen to pick up all three points in their quest to clinch a top-four finish before the end of the season. 

However if Chelsea hope to beat Brighton on the second attempt, they’ll need to offer up far more firepower than was on show in the first game. Over the course of the match Maresca’s side forced just one save from Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, while the team’s solitary goal came from a mishit by Cole Palmer that the aforementioned shot-stopper somehow managed to bundle into his own net. But scoring goals seems to be easier said than done for this Chelsea team, if their recent form is anything to go by. Since the turn of the year, Maresca’s side have scored just nine goals in five league games, which places them eighth among their Premier League rivals in the goalscoring charts. And the Blues will need to once again make due with star striker Nicolas Jackson, who now looks to be out injured for the rest of the season. Whichever way the club look at it, there’s a growing sense that Chelsea’s front line simply isn’t up to scratch, despite the vast amount of money that the club have spent in recent years. 

Chelsea’s expensive, misfiring attack

Indeed, a quick glance at which players have picked up the most goals and assists in the league will quickly point to the biggest issue in Chelsea’s attack this season. While Palmer is the fourth best player in the league for goal contributions (14 goals and six assists) and Jackson just missed out on the top 10 with 14 goals and assists, the third best Chelsea player is Noni Madueke with just 10 goals and assists in 22 appearances. Who is then followed by Enzo Fernández (seven), Jadon Sancho (six) and then Pedro Neto (four). What that means is that Palmer and Jackson are basically Maresca’s only dependable sources for goal contributions this season, to the extent that Palmer’s goals and assists account for no less than 42.6% of his team’s total goals in the league. And as we can see in the table below, that makes him the ninth most relied upon talisman in the Premier League this season. Which is a remarkable stat when we consider that seven of the eight players ahead of him are strikers. 

However, what’s perhaps even more damning about Chelsea’s current predicament is the fact that they’re struggling to score goals in the Premier League despite spending unrivalled fortunes in the transfer window. This season alone saw the Stamford Bridge club sign Neto for €60 million, João Félix for a further €63m (the €53m fee to sign him this season plus the €10m fee included in last season’s loan), and Leicester City playmaker Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for €35.4m. When we then add Sancho’s imminent €30m move at the end of the season, that means Chelsea have spent €177.4m on four attacking players and to date all three have contributed a grand total of 34 goals and assists in all competitions in a Chelsea top. And, worryingly enough, this rather poor return on attacking investments has become something of a pattern for the Stamford Bridge side. 

Last season saw the club spend €60m on RB Leipizig forward Christopher Nkunku, who has managed just 20 goals and assists in 45 games, as well as Deivid Washington (zero goals and assists in three games) for €12m and Ângelo (zero appearances) for €15m. And in the season prior to the last one, Chelsea spent an incredible €306.2m to sign attacking players David Datro Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Madueke, Raheem Sterling, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Fernández. To date, those six attacking players have contributed just 101 goals or assists in 342 appearances, while just two of them are still regular starters for Maresca’s side. Which means since the club changed hands and the new owners took over in the summer of 2022, Chelsea have spent a grand total of €654.6m on attacking midfielders and forwards and have just a handful of useful first team players to show for it. 

While none of that will offer much solace to Maresca as he attempts to drag his misfiring squad towards Champions League qualification, it may explain why Chelsea have struggled for consistency and goals this season. The club have done exceptionally well to sign long-term talents like Palmer, Jackson and Madueke, but too much money has been spent on reactive signings like Neto, Sterling, Felix and even Sancho. Rather than help the team towards their goals, it seems as though they have only provided an extra burden to Maresca and his backroom staff. And there may be a lesson to be learned from the money wasted over the course of the last six transfer windows, as Chelsea prepare to spend even more money in the coming summer period.