None of Liam Rosenior’s players are old enough to remember the last time Chelsea lost four league matches in a row without scoring a goal. That was all the way back in 1998, long before Roman Abramovich reshaped the club and the many revolutionary minds of BlueCo decided to reshape it again.
The supporters who protested against BlueCo’s owners before this match, angrily chanting Abramovich’s name outside Stamford Bridge will be quick to note that a Russian-owned Chelsea never performed as badly in front of goal as the current side. Rosenior’s team last found the net in the Premier League on March 4, away to Aston Villa, and this home defeat by Manchester United extended their goalless run to more than six hours.
History awaits, then, away against Brighton on Tuesday. Should Chelsea once again lose without scoring, it will match a club record set in 1912. That is the scale of the underachievement taking place at Stamford Bridge. For a group of players assembled at such an immense cost, the toothlessness is extraordinary.
Admittedly, Chelsea’s cause against United was not made easier by the absence of top scorer João Pedro, who has picked up a thigh injury. But that does not excuse the lack of clarity in the opposition’s penalty box here, or the lack of invention against a patched-up United defence that featured a teenager and a repurposed full-back as centre-backs.
That absence of cutting edge was made all the more galling by the fact that Chelsea dominated most of this game. In two-thirds of the pitch, they were the better team overall. In the final third, however, they were desperately short of craft and skill.
Sure, there was effort. They all ran around, with some of them even struggling with cramp by the end. But where was the quality? Pedro Neto swung some crosses into the box. Liam Delap attempted to win some headers. Alejandro Garnacho dribbled at the United defenders, lost the ball, and then repeated the cycle. Cole Palmer, meanwhile, ambled around in hope that an opening might present itself. It never did.
A good measure of Chelsea’s performance is that they had 21 shots, their second most in a Premier League game this season, but the quality of those chances was agonisingly low. Statisticians at Opta rated their expected goals per shot at just 0.07, their third-lowest in a league game this season.
Chelsea’s inability to create clear chances has become their single biggest problem in the battle for the Champions League places. The gap to fifth-placed Liverpool stands at four points, and could stretch to seven on Sunday.
“It gives us a mountain to climb,” said Rosenior. “It’s not insurmountable but it gives us a mountain to climb, and we have to go into Brighton with an idea that we have to win that game and kick-start the rest of our season.”
What happens if Chelsea do not qualify for the Champions League and secure all the financial benefits that come with participation in Europe’s premier competition? “The honest answer is I don’t know,” said Rosenior. “We will address that situation at the end of the season, whatever the situation is.”
That is a problem for the summer, and indeed for next season. For now, the top priority for Rosenior must be finding a way to unlock the potential of the forwards at his disposal. Chelsea have good enough players and a huge incentive, but they currently do not have the answers to their problems in attack. A solution must be found, urgently.