- Chelsea head to Leicester City for the return of Premier League action
- It’s a 12:30pm GMT kick-off at King Power Stadium on Saturday
- The Athletic’s Simon Johnson analysed the Blues’ current position
- Third in the table, there is more improvement to come from this side, he believes
A man known well to Leicester City, having led the Club to the Sky Bet Championship title last term, the Italian has now embarked on a new challenge with the London club - and results so far have been positive.
They head to King Power Stadium for Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off with only Liverpool and Manchester City collecting more points in the opening 11 games of the Premier League campaign, as they look to rebuild following last season’s sixth-place finish.
Assessing the Blues this term, Johnson commented: “Overall, it’s been greeted positively. Chelsea are third in the table, albeit on goal difference and within three points of 11th. There’s an element of frustration about the home form and they've not beaten one of the big boys, losing to Man City and Liverpool and drawing against Manchester United and Arsenal.
“On the whole he has been received pretty well. It helps when you have Cole Palmer in your team who is always going to entertain. He’s come in, dealt with the squad issue, made it clear he’s in charge and he’s earned the respect of the players.
“After the game, particularly away from home, his ushering of the players to the away support means there’s a strong bond between Maresca and the fans.”
It’s one league win in five for the Blues, alongside a Carabao Cup exit to Newcastle United, though two UEFA Europa Conference League victories over Panathinaikos and FC Noah in that timeframe have boosted morale around Stamford Bridge.
“There’s more belief but there’s also thinking that Chelsea must go to Leicester and win,” the journalist continued. “They’re on a run of not winning, which is a big reason why they are hanging on to a top four spot.
“They control games for long periods and look good but switch off defensively. It’s not just the [Wesley] Fofana - [Levi] Colwill partnership that gets caught out. They are learning a new way of playing under Maresca.
“Playing out from the back with Robert Sanchez in goal is taking some getting used to. You don’t know what you’re going to get and from set pieces they are not the best at defending. It’s been two clean sheets in 11 league games.
“This should encourage Leicester that something is possible. Chelsea will always give you a chance. They can dominate for 80 minutes of the game, but they always give you an opportunity.
“Even against FC Noah, in the 8-0 win in the Conference League, they still had 15 shots in a game Chelsea dominated for the most part, which is far too many.”
Seven goals and five assists in 12 Premier League outings puts Palmer out in front as Chelsea’s highest goal contributor once again, but it’s not only the former Manchester City attacker who has been impressing in recent weeks.
Johnson explained: “Cole Palmer is obviously Chelsea’s standout player and what he’s having to get used to is opponents man marking him and singling him out for special treatment. That’s an adaptation in itself.
“I wouldn’t ignore Nicolas Jackson, who still divides opinion among Chelsea supporters, but I think he’s a striker on the way up and can cause problems. Moises Caicedo would compete with Palmer for Chelsea’s player of the season so far.
“He’s been very consistent. His price tag understandably gets mentioned quite a lot when you’re the Premier League’s record buy, but he’s actually putting in the performances that show it.
“Another one to watch out for is Pedro Neto. He scored the equaliser against Arsenal last time out. You can tell he’s growing in confidence as a Chelsea player. And then there’s Noni Madueke, who had a positive international duty with England.”