'The Sun's Shining Again' – Chelsea's Roller-Coaster Season
- Simon Johnson, from The Athletic, has previewed Chelsea's visit to Leicester City
- The two sides meet in the Premier League on Saturday (3pm GMT kick-off)
- Johnson believes Graham Potter's men are riding a wave of optimism
- The Blues defeated Borussia Dortmund this week in the UEFA Champions League
The west London outfit, European champions as recently as 2021, are currently 10th in the Premier League, 11 points adrift of the top four. It's been a season of immense upheaval at Stamford Bridge with winter signings Mykhailo Mudryk, Enzo Fernández, Benoît Badiashile and Noni Madueke reportedly seeing the Blues spend in the region of £200M.
That January business followed a busy summer window, overseen by former manager Thomas Tuchel, which also involved the arrivals of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Wesley Fofana. The latter of those was signed from Leicester City and the Frenchman will be making his first return to King Power Stadium on Saturday.
The Foxes are the hosts on Filbert Way for a 3pm kick-off. Earlier this week, Johnson spoke to LCFC Radio's Matchday Live show to take stock on Chelsea's season, which has been boosted greatly by a UCL last-16 win over Borussia Dortmund in midweek.
"It’s saved the season," he said. "It’s suddenly given hope to the season. It’s also eased some of the pressure, for the time being, on Graham Potter. It was becoming a game-by-game question for him to answer. You were hearing noises about whether or not [he would remain as Chelsea manager]. Instead, suddenly, it's changed. That's the beauty of football, isn’t it?
"The sun is shining. The clouds have lifted from Stamford Bridge a little bit and you can see by the way that the players celebrated at the end in midweek, it’s the massive confidence boost they needed. Of course, it’s only one result, although they also had the Leeds game a few days before. They have to build on this and that is where the Leicester game comes in."
The confidence provided by those two results could propel Chelsea's players on, Johnson believes. It remains to be seen, however, how their Premier League form will be affected by their continuing progress on the European stage, he says.
"I think, if they’re not confident now, when will they ever be?" the journalist added. "They’ve had the rarity of their first back-to-back wins since October. There’s now an element of recovery, but Leicester will have benefited from a full week of preparation. Chelsea, on the other hand, have had the emotions and the adrenaline of that game against Dortmund.
"It’s a game which doesn’t mean as much. There’s only so much that Chelsea can achieve in the Premier League this season. Will the pursuit of a Europa League or Europa Conference League spot motivate these guys?
"I hope that they will carry on with the momentum that they’ve started. The Champions League progression can work as a positive for them in the Premier League. They are all fighting for places to play in this quarter-final that is coming up.
"Potter will clearly be watching and saying: ‘If you want to be a part of the team, then go and prove it to me’. Leicester are having a tricky season themselves, so who knows. I’m not going to go all guns blazing, saying Chelsea are back. The same issues are there. The midweek game was the first time they’ve scored two goals in a game since December."