Chelsea stats: Best Premier League players, unsung heroes and areas of concern | 2019/20 season
Chelsea have enjoyed a promising start to life under Frank Lampard, currently sitting fifth in the Premier League after eight games.
The Blues have quickly recovered from a 4-0 hammering in their first game of the season against Manchester United and now sit just two points off second-placed Manchester City, having won four, drawn two and lost one of their subsequent seven games.
At the heart of Chelsea’s success has been the use of their academy graduates, with Lampard handing significant playing time to the likes of Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Andreas Christensen so far.
Abraham has been the standout star, currently sitting as the Premier League’s joint-top scorer with eight goals, alongside Sergio Aguero. No Englishman has scored more goals in Europe’s top five leagues than Chelsea’s leading man.
But how have the rest of the squad been performing? We’ve broken down some of the key stats for Chelsea in the Premier League so far.
Chelsea’s top creators
While Abraham has received the plaudits for scoring the goals, another academy graduate has been flexing his creative muscles. Mount, who played under Lampard at Derby County last season, leads the way for creativity at Chelsea, having created 17 chances so far.
He sits five ahead of club captain Cesar Azpilicueta, who has seen his 12 chances created result in two assists. The Spaniard is joined by Callum Hudson-Odoi, Christian Pulisic and Marcos Alonso as members of the Blues squad to record two Premier League assists so far this season.
1. Mason Mount: 17 chances created (0 assists)
2. Cesar Azpilicueta: 12 chances created (2 assists)
3. Ross Barkley: 10 chances created (0 assists)
4. Jorginho: 9 chances created (1 assist)
5. Tammy Abraham: 9 chances created (0 assists)
Most shots for Chelsea
In the Premier League, only Manchester City (27) and Liverpool (20) have managed more goals so far this season than Chelsea’s 18 – with the Blues boasting seven different scorers.
Understandably, the Blues rank high for total shots with their 133 efforts only bettered Manchester City’s 168. Top scorer Abraham leads the way for Chelsea with shots, having 26 efforts in eight games, hitting the target on 15 occasions – no Premier League player has had more shots on target.
Mount is the other Chelsea star to manage 20+ shots, while Willian’s record of two shots on target from 12 attempts shows signs of a player trying his luck from range.
1. Tammy Abraham: 26 shots (15 on target)
2. Mason Mount: 20 shots (9 on target)
3. Ross Barkley: 15 shots (5 on target)
4. Willian: 12 shots (2 on target)
5. Pedro: 10 shots (4 on target)
Chelsea’s best tacklers
Following Maurizio Sarri’s departure in the summer, there were some doubts surrounding the Chelsea future of Jorginho. But the Italian midfielder has won over a lot of his doubters, proving he can do more than just complete simple passes.
Jorginho leads the Chelsea standings for tackles in the Premier League, making 20 so far, two more than any other player. Tomori is also impressively high in his first Premier League season, making 15, level with Emerson whose tally has come in just 375 minutes.
The Blues do have two players yet to make a tackle in Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi, though the pair have combined for just 145 minutes played.
1. Jorginho: 20 tackles made
2. Cesar Azpilicueta: 18 tackles made
3. Fikayo Tomori: 15 tackles made
4. Emerson: 15 tackles made
5. Mason Mount: 14 tackles made
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Chelsea’s best dribbler
Eden Hazard was in a world of his own when it came to beating players in the Premier League last season, and Chelsea are still waiting for a new player to step up.
Midfielder Mateo Kovacic currently leads the way with 15 take-ons completed, failing to beat his man on just four occasions. Once again Mount is high on the list with 12, adding to his impressive start to life as a Chelsea first-team player.
Callum Hudson-Odoi is the only Chelsea player to have attempted a take-on without completing one.
1. Mateo Kovacic: 15 take-ons completed (19 take-ons attempted)
2. Mason Mount: 12 take-ons completed (21 take-ons attempted)
3. Christian Pulisic: 9 take-ons completed (20 take-ons attempted)
4. Willian: 9 take-ons completed (14 take-ons attempted)
5. Emerson: 8 take-ons completed (10 take-ons attempted)
Chelsea’s worst defensive players
Chelsea’s defence has come under a lot of fire this season, and rightly so. The Blues have conceded 14 goals in the Premier League so far, with only Southampton, Watford and Norwich City letting in more.
But, perhaps surprisingly, none of these goals have come from defensive errors with the Blues only allowing three shots from mistakes, attributed to Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma and Mateo Kovacic.
However, some Chelsea stars have proven a bit too easy for opponents to dribble past, with Chelsea seriously missing N’Golo Kante’s presence in midfield.
1. Jorginho: 14 times dribbled past
2. Mateo Kovacic: 11 times dribbled past
3. Cesar Azpilicueta: 7 times dribbled past
4. Mason Mount: 6 times dribbled past
5. Willian: 6 times dribbled past
6. Marcos Alonso: 6 times dribbled past
A word on Arrizabalaga
Although Chelsea’s defence has been poor, they have not been helped by Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Spaniard has saved just 48.15% of the shots he has faced so far this season, the worst record in the Premier League.
