Improvements are slowly being made at Chelsea as the Blues look to push for a top-four Premier League spot in the second half of the season.
A poor run of form between October and January saw Chelsea win just three out of 14 games in all competitions in the first half of the season, with Graham Potter's side dropping as low as 10th in the Premier League and exiting the FA and Carabao Cup. But, after a huge January transfer window, Chelsea have kept three clean sheets in a row without losing as improvements are starting to show.
Eight players arrived at Stamford Bridge last month, with some of the standouts including Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, Joao Felix, Noni Madueke and Benoit Badiashile. In total, the Blues spent £323million in January, adding to the £272million in the summer transfer window to take their spending for the season to well over half a billion.
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So, could Chelsea's new signings help them claim a spot in the Premier League top four? Let's take a look.
We simulated Chelsea's 2022/23 Premier League season
We used the Football Manager 2023 editor to update all teams, managers and playing squads of all Premier League teams, whilst also using the Football Manager 2023 editor to replicate the current Premier League table as it is in real life. We then simulated from February 9 until the end of the season in-game.
With the new players in their ranks, Chelsea showed improvement as they pushed up the Premier League table following a run of impressive form between February and March. But, a poor end to the season saw the Blues lose a few games, and Potter's side ended the campaign in seventh place, qualifying for the Europa Conference League.
In the 17 remaining league games, Chelsea won nine, drew three and lost five, with four of the five losses coming in the final eight games. In total, the Blues managed 60 points, just five less than Newcastle in fourth as Chelsea moved away from the top four battle in the final few weeks of the season.
At the end of the 2022/23 season, Football Manager 2023 put together an overall best Chelsea XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics. This is how the best Blues XI looked in 2022/23 according to FM23.
Full Chelsea best XI (4-2-3-1): Mendy; James, Silva, Fofana, Chilwell; Kovacic, Fernandez; Mount, Felix, Mudryk; Havertz.
January signings Fernandez, Felix and Mudryk all made the best XI in the simulation, with Badiashile just missing out on the squad to Wesley Fofana who impressed on his return from injury. Kai Havertz found some good form as he started in the striker role, whilst Mason Mount made the squad on the right as he edged out Hakim Ziyech, Raheem Sterling and Madueke.
With great depth at Potter's disposal, the Blues were able to go on a decent run in the Champions League, making it all the way to the semi-finals. After a 3-1 aggregate win over Borussia Dortmund and a 5-1 aggregate win over Benfica in the quarter-finals, Chelsea were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain at the penultimate hurdle, losing 2-0 over both legs.
Overall, FM23 predicts that Chelsea could produce better performances in the second half of the season following the January transfer window, but there was still plenty of room for improvement as the Blues finished seventh in the Premier League.
Would you be happy with this outcome for Chelsea at the end of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign? Let us know in the comments below!
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