Chelsea must turn to youth stars to help struggling squad back on track | OneFootball

It’s never boring, being a Chelsea fan… This season looked like it could be the most stable we’ve had since Thomas Tuchel’s second campaign, but it’s already threatening to burst into flames.

A good start can be a dangerous thing in football – all you do is raise expectations. It was assumed that Enzo Maresca would have a difficult start to life as Chelsea boss, instead he did far better than anticipated. But that’s ended up counting against him. Being in the title race on Christmas Eve just makes the rest of the season look disappointing in comparison.

The slump in results since the turn of the year is really damaging us now, and while we’re still in touch with the top 4, we’re now also in touch with mid-table too.

Even best betting sites in Nigeria have lengthened our odds of making the Champions League significantly, and unless we find out feet again soon, the rate at which they change will only accelerate.

So what can Enzo Maresca do to change things? Fans would have a number of suggestions, starting with changing his first choice goalkeeper. But it’s not clear if that’s a realistic option. Maresca has defended Robet Sanchez to the hilt and whether that’s his doing or just the word he’s been given from those upstairs, it does feel unlikely that he suddenly goes back on those words now, no matter how bad things get.

Things aren’t much better up front either – Nicolas Jackson has stopped scoring, but Marc Guiu is too raw to replace him, and Christopher Nkunku just doesn’t play in the same way – and increasingly looks disinterested in playing at all as he’s so out of the picture.

Romeo Lavia’s endless injury issues have drained our already limited midfield depth, and now the form of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez – so crucial to our strong early season run – is starting to fade as they’re run into the ground.

There’s still time in this January window to add a new player – but buying your way out of trouble has only had limited success for this team so far. Perhaps more trust will have to be put in young players to fill the gaps – Josh Acheampong has already stepped up and proved himself when we needed him, and Trevoh Chalobah has come back from his loan to help out. Perhaps next up is Sam Rak-Sakyi to be a useful extra body in midfield?