It only took Chelsea 3 days to answer the question of whether they were ready to become Arsenal's biggest rival in the Premier League title race. A streak of 7 unbeaten matches in all competitions helped coach Enzo Maresca's team enter the journey to Elland Road with great expectations.
The 3-0 victory over Barcelona in the Champions League and the brave 1-1 draw against Arsenal despite only having 10 men made Chelsea receive a lot of praise from experts. But then the humiliating 1-3 defeat to Leeds dispelled that optimism, and at the same time pointed out the fact that The Blues still did not have enough courage and quality to compete for the championship.
Compared to the same time last season, Chelsea is in even worse form. On 4 December 2024, after a 5-1 victory over Southampton, they were 2nd and 7 points behind Liverpool. At that time, Liverpool had 35 points after 14 rounds, while Arsenal currently have only 33 points after 14 matches. However, 12 months have passed, Chelsea have dropped to 4th place and almost all professional indicators are lower, except for the number of goals conceded. That shows that Maresca's army is falling behind them last season.
In fact, Chelsea had a bad time last season with only 2 wins in 10 matches from the end of December to February. Therefore, there is still reason to believe in the possibility of improvement. However, the recent loss to Leeds has cooled all discussions about the ability to compete for the title.
Since the beginning of the season, Chelsea's internal goal has only been to return to the Top 4. No one in the team believes they can lift the championship in May 2026. However, playing completely behind Leeds is still unacceptable if they want to show progress.
Arsenal in this year's championship race did not show any signs of such collapse, Chelsea did the opposite. They have lost to Manchester United, Brighton and Sunderland in a similar way, which is the image of a team that is in disarray, lacking fighting spirit and easily overwhelmed by opponents. The defeat to Leeds also showed a deeper problem, which was the lack of squad depth.
Enzo Maresca has made 5 changes to the starting lineup and of course that has put him in the face of many doubts. According to The Athletic, this is a plan approved by the club to manage the number of minutes played by players, especially when Chelsea has to face a tight schedule including the match against Bournemouth and then an important away trip to Atalanta in the Champions League.
Moises Caicedo is suspended, while Reece James and Wesley Fofana - key players with a history of injuries - have to control the number of minutes played. Pedro Neto, who started all the previous Premier League games, needs a break, despite still coming on at the start of the second half and scoring the only goal for Chelsea.
The decision to leave Malo gust out of the starting lineup was the most confusing, as the French defender only played 45 minutes against Arsenal. However, the bigger problem lies in the performance of the replacements. The central defender duo Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile were uncertain and made many mistakes. Andrey Santos cannot take on the No. 6 role like Caicedo. Jamie Gittens had his 5th assist of the season but apart from that situation, he almost did not leave an impression. Striker Liam Delap disappointed with his limited ball possession, movement and finishing. Cole Palmer returned from injury but was only put on the field after an hour of play and could not make a difference.
After the match, Maresca frankly admitted that Chelsea will be heavily affected every time Caicedo, James and Fofana are absent. When you play well like against Barcelona and Arsenal, you expect the team to continue to maintain that level, but that is not possible when we have to change personnel, he said.
That reality shows Chelsea is still a team that depends heavily on a number of key individuals and as much as the depth of the squad is not up to standard, stability - a mandatory factor for the championship race will be difficult to appear. Chelsea could still achieve important goals this season, such as reaching the Top 4 or going far in the Champions League.
To become a real Arsenal opponent in the title race, Chelsea have a long way to go to improve before that becomes impossible
