Our 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team previews continue apace with Chelsea.
Enzo Maresca has been chosen as the man to replace Mauricio Pochettino in the dugout, but can he make an instant impact at Stamford Bridge?
In these team guides, we’ll be looking at the best players from each club for the upcoming campaign. We’ll also take a stab at predicted line-ups for Gameweek 1, review pre-season and more.
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CHELSEA: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
There are reasons to be optimistic.
Chelsea have an interesting new head coach in Enzo Maresca, who is set to implement a new, slower, possession-based style.
The Italian has used a fluid 4-3-3 in pre-season, as they did on occasion under Mauricio Pochettino. So the Blues already have the personnel capable of playing in that formation, which should help speed up the process.
There is talent in this Chelsea squad, too.
In Cole Palmer (£10.5m) and Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m), the Blues have real quality in attack.
In addition, Romeo Lavia (£4.5m) has shown pre-season promise, while Marc Cucurella (£5.0m) had an excellent Euro 2024.
Given the improvements under Pochettino since the turn of the year, there is some hope that Chelsea can start quickly.
Above: Clubs sorted by NPxG difference in 2024, via Statsbomb
CHELSEA: REASONS TO BE FEARFUL
More upheaval.
Pochettino appeared to steady the ship in 2024 but there is a real fear that Chelsea could be back to square one again.
Defensive issues have been apparent in the club’s pre-season tour of the US, with half the 12 goals conceded caused by mistakes playing out from the back. The high defensive line has been repeatedly exposed, too.
It is still early days for Maresca, of course, but defensive frailties are a major concern, especially with Manchester City up first.
“One of my first meetings with the squad was about the number of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line being very high. It is something that we are trying to work on. The problem has been defensively and when I say defensively, I don’t just mean the defensive line. All of the players.
“We are not working on playing with the defensive line higher. It is a habit from last year or from years ago. I don’t know. But we are trying to drop the defensive line by four or five metres so we have the advantage and don’t concede the balls in behind. Last season we conceded many goals with this problem and hopefully we can solve this problem very soon.” – Enzo Maresca
