Only two of Chelsea's many new signings debuted, and while it will take time before the full product can be judged, there were some telling elements to glean from the club's season-opening match.
There will be those who look only at the result and see in Chelsea’s 3-1 win away to Brighton on Monday as the beginnings of Chelsea’s bright new future. And perhaps it will be. All journeys have to start somewhere, and even a faltering step forward is going in the right direction. Brighton has the potential to be an awkward side and held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at home last season. Come the end of the season those three points may look very valuable. But there will have to be major improvements if Chelsea is to present any kind of challenge to the Premier League's top two.
To an extent that’s only to be expected. Of the fleet of new signings, only Timo Werner and Kai Havertz started on Monday. Every team in the Premier League has had a disrupted preseason, and that’s all the harder to overcome when you have six major new signings to incorporate. Even in the most helpful of circumstances, it takes time to gel. Brighton looked like the more cohesive side with slicker patterns and ended up being undone by weight of talent, one piece of brilliance and one moment of dreadful ill-fortune. Often the team with the better players just wins; Liverpool next Sunday will represent a far sterner test for Chelsea..
The one overwhelming positive Monday was the form of Werner. The $60 million signing operated not on the left, where he often played for RB Leipzig, but through the center, at the head of a narrow 4-2-3-1, in which Ruben Loftus-Cheek was the slightly surprising choice as the central creator. Werner’s relentless running, the intelligent angles he found behind the Brighton defense, the way he pressed a team that is susceptible to pressing all bode well–it was his dart that drew the penalty that set Chelsea on its way and gave it a halftime lead.
But what prevented it being a very awkward start to the season was Reece James’s thunderbolt two minutes after the Brighton equalizer. That James started itself felt revealing, given it meant Cesar Azpilicueta being relegated to the bench, but the 20-year-old, part of England’s glut of highly talented young right backs (his Brighton counterpart, Tariq Lamptey, was arguably the most impressive performer on the night), dominated his flank, from both an attacking and a defensive point of view. Azpilicueta, the 31-year-old Spaniard who has been such a constant at Chelsea over the past eight years, may find his time limited this season.
The third goal, which eased any nerves, was a half-hit shot from Kurt Zouma that went in via a huge deflection. Chelsea’s three goals, in other words, were a penalty that stemmed from a smart run from Werner, a ferocious strike and a fluke: there was little to be discerned there about pattern of play.
The one pattern that was obvious was the ongoing defensive deficiency. Brighton’s goal will, understandably, be ascribed to another Kepa Arrizabalaga error, as he let Leandro Trossard’s shot bounce through his hands. Manager Frank Lampard insisted he was “very happy” with his goalkeeper, but talks are ongoing to sign Edouard Mendy from Rennes. More worrying in the longer term was the way Trossard found space at the edge of the box and how nobody closed him down. N’Golo Kante was caught hanging weirdly deep, raising fears that his poor form of last season may carry over into this one. There have been persistent reports suggesting either he or Jorginho, who had converted the first-half penalty, may be sold.
Lampard acknowledged his side had lacked fluency. Havertz was only intermittently involved. There are still four new players to be introduced, while Christian Pulisic was ruled out with an injury. There is obvious space to get better. And Chelsea did at least get two points more than it had in the equivalent fixture last season.
But there will be the expectation of major improvements to come, and quickly. It would be wrong to making sweeping judgments this early. Rhythm will come, and Werner showed glimmers of promise, but the concern will be that there was little evidence that the problems of last season, most notably that leaky defense, have been resolved. Liverpool was not at its best in beating Leeds on Saturday, either. Both sides may be a little undercooked, but, for both, Sunday's showdown at Stamford Bridge represents an early chance to gain an advantage.