Chelsea sits top of the season ticker for the first eight games. The usual expected average span before it is time to hit the first wildcard button for many seasoned managers. Coupled with the favorable fixtures are the low prices for all of their assets. Thus, the combination of both has ensured a growing eagerness in Pochettino’s team.
The 5️⃣ teams with the 5️⃣ most favourable opening fixtures 🖐
FPL_Harry often considered amongst the finest Fantasy managers in recent times jokingly put out a tweet about the forward situation in Chelsea. He says they will either be firing tanks for Chelsea, or the Blues will be blamed for ruining more careers of their players. This article aims to explore which side the possibility is likely leaning towards.
Doing some research on these two for a video coming out on Friday… 👀 #FPL
Looking at their previous seasons, Chelsea will either get blamed for ruining more careers… Or… We are in for one hell of a season🔥
There will be an attempt here to summarize Pochettino’s style of play based on pre-season matches so far. The discussion will be done to form a considerable opinion to help in making FPL choices
The Forwards:
The cheap pricing of the Chelsea assets has created the opportunity of if the right attackers are nailed down from their side, it can reward hugely beneficial particularly at the start of the season to propel early advantage for FPL managers.
Nkunku:
Nkunku (£7.5m) remains for now the best FPL attacking asset of the Blues. He is playing central in the traditional out-and-out number 9 role.
As the striker he is staying within the box and primarily playing in Pochettino’s team as the player whose responsibility it is to bring goals for the team.
Nkunku has in the pre-season matches so far linked up great with left-back Ben Chilwell. Nkunku has settled well into the team and at £7.5m he can be the perfect answer in the mid-priced forward bracket. He has established his ability so far as a clinical finisher something the Blues desperately lacked and needed in the previous seasons.
Nicolas Jackson on fire in preseason 🔥
The £7.0m Chelsea Forward is selected by just 2.8% of #FPL managers 👀
Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m) has done plenty of good work in the pre-season to be in the reckoning in Pochettino’s thoughts when he decides his lineup against Liverpool for GW 1.
Jackson has also started on a good note with a special relationship with Marc Cucurella (£5.0m) in the team both on and off the field. Their camaraderie was already highlighted in the match against Brighton with Jackson being involved in three of the goals for Chelsea albeit with the Seagulls being down to ten men. Cucurella played in the middle of the park when he came on for the Blues, playing forward passes and helping to bifurcate the Brighton midfield time and again greatly benefiting Jackson.
Christopher Nkunku £7.5m (19.5%)
Behind Jackson it looks like the French 25-year-old from RB Leipzig that Chelsea signed for €60m will play. Last season he played as a second striker off the left in a 4-2-2-2 but he also played in more of an attacking midfield role in a… pic.twitter.com/Bi03Ob7S7S
Jackson talked post-match about his friendship with Cucurella and the fact he knew that the Spaniard would look for him during the match. In case of a Chilwell injury as Nigel mentions this will certainly be a relationship that can flourish and benefit FPL managers.
There might even be a situation of Nkunku playing as the number 10 and Jackson playing upfront. The possibility of this will be interesting for managers looking to chase upside by going against the template picks and gaining early-season momentum. Owing to the most probable situation of low ownership of Jackson at the start of the campaign, the Nigerian can certainly provide great value.
Conservative managers might feel on the other hand paying the £0.5m extra for Nkunku will be worth it in terms of his quality and he will likely be more nailed. The Jackson train for now should surely be one to monitor and be approached with caution. As they say, it is better to arrive late at a party than enter early and see there is no party at all.
0.78xGI per 90. Only Haaland, Darwin and Wilson could compete with those types of numbers in the PL.
But he is coming into an entire new league and we know about the record of Chelsea and Bundesliga strikers. I don’t think he will be a Werner or Havertz but you can see that… pic.twitter.com/PYVTzMFinl
Speaking after the match, Pochettino was talking about his two forwards confirmed to the press about the possibility of the two players starting together, “For sure we will arrive in the next few games at the possibility to play them together. It is that the circumstance of the physical condition means we need to use both to share the minutes.”
Sterling and Mudryk
It is hard to remain optimistic about Sterling for now. In pre-season, Sterling (£7m) has barely looked effective on either of the wings for now in both matches so far. First against Wrexham, Sterling operated on the right wing followed by against Brighton he played on his more usual position of the left wing. In both the wings, he barely had much of a role in any of Chelsea’s attacking displays.
Mudryk (£6.5m) came in with much hype last season but he has shown little glimpse of all the hyped-up promise aside from giving James Milner a torrid time in his debut against the Reds.
🔵 Chelsea have impressed so far in pre-season, with lots of players potentially becoming FPL options.
The Ukranian has been enjoying a positive start to his pre-season campaign this time round looking lively against Brighton including scoring a goal. Caution though needs to be exerted on Mudryk as an FPL asset, despite all his threatening pace and now six months since his introduction to English football. The Ukranian’s finishing remains very much under the scanner even in the two concluded pre-season matches.
Any other attacking player for Chelsea other than the two forwards, for now, is simply in the wait-and-watch category. Similarly, if an FPL manager had to buy a forward asset other than Nkunku it should be Jackson rather than Sterling.
