Chelsea’s new attacking signings Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and Angelo Gabriel have all hit the ground running so far in pre-season. After an extremely disappointing season last time out, will the Blues’ new players be able to turn around the fortunes at the top end of the pitch from last season?
In Chelsea’s first two fixtures of the preseason, Mauricio Pochettino’s side have scored nine goals in two games. Nkunku has found the net twice, Jackson has scored once whilst registering three assists, and Mykhailo Mudryk has scored once.
Last season, without a recognised striker, Chelsea only found the back of the net 38 times in the 38 Premier League matches. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s signing was largely unsuccessful, whilst Romelu Lukaku was on loan at Inter Milan. This left João Felix and Kai Havertz as the main men for the Blues in the season. Havertz scored seven times in the league and Felix scored only four times.
Mudryk, who signed for £88m, failed to score last season for Chelsea, but he spent his off-season with the Ukraine team during the Euro U21s tournament, to best prepare him for the upcoming campaign at Stamford Bridge. The highly determined winger seems to have had his hard work during the tournament pay off.
Nicolas Jackson arrived at Chelsea from Villarreal for a fee of £32m, and whilst there are still some questions around whether he is the right man to lead the line for the Blues, so far he’s not done much wrong. He’s shown that he can find goals, whilst also being able to set up his teammates and register assists.
Nkunku could become the star man for Chelsea. His capability to play in the number nine role or even the number ten position, will help bring versatility to Pochettino’s forward line. In the past two seasons in the Bundesliga, Nkunku has scored 36 goals in 59 appearances for RB Leipzig, showing his real attacking threat.
Chelsea’s wingers will also have a pivotal part to play, so the pressure isn’t always on the man playing striker. Raheem Sterling’s first year at the Blues was a difficult one. Sterling only netted six league goals, with his lowest goal tally in his previous five seasons being 10 goals, which shows the drop-off he had last season.
The 28-year-old should have a huge campaign ahead of him, with Pochettino turning to him to guide an otherwise inexperienced Chelsea attack.
With the forward line being so young, it does give them plenty of time to improve and grow as players, but after a disappointing season, Chelsea’s attackers need to perform if they are to climb the table again.
