Chelsea's attacking deficiencies for the past five years have been well documented. They're not a new story. They are still a very potent problem for Thomas Tuchel as he enters a new season though.
Without Romelu Lukaku, who was meant to be the sure fire way of firing in 20 goals a season, the club now have only Kai Havertz as a senior central attacker, with Armando Broja looking set to move to West Ham. Whilst the German has had his moments in a blue shirt, even he didn't beat Lukaku's eight goals last season.
This adds a lot of pressure onto the goalscoring winger, Raheem Sterling. With 109 league goals to his name already and the intelligence to pick up the right spaces in the box when needed, Sterling has become a consistent source of goals throughout his career.
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That is now the expectation for him at Stamford Bridge. He has to, almost singlehandedly, elevate the Chelsea attack into one that can challenge for a league title as well as cup competitions. For a 27-year-old that has never been the main output, it is a challenge.
The former Manchester City wide forward will have players with prowess around him though. Timo Werner had scored 78 times in 127 matches for RB Leipzig in four years before he moved to England, that's the same as Erling Haaland managed in his last four seasons as well.
The difference is that since coming to England Werner has scored just 10 league goals over two campaigns and he still doesn't look suited to life in the Premier League. Without space to run into Werner has struggled to create his own chances, and even then, he has missed ones that have opened up for him.
Across his two seasons in London Werner has underperformed his xG in both of them, recording 11.9 and 7.6 expected goals compared to the six and four that he managed. This has created issues for Tuchel as Chelsea struggle to get past stubborn opposition, despite creating more than enough shots to win the match.
Just like Werner was in his first season, Haaland has been tipped as the favourite to win the Premier League golden boot for 2022/23. Even with the hindsight now that Werner wasn't suited to the league, former Manchester City defender Micah Richards thinks the situations aren't the same. "I think it’s different with (Timo) Werner though, he was never an out and out striker," he said speaking to SkyBet.
"He was playing more on the left and runs inside. He has been unlucky as well Werner, at times, he’s hit the post, the bar a number of times."
Even with the addition of Sterling not many people will back Werner to outscore Haaland next year so the transfer does signify the difference in quality recruitment done by both teams and poses as a lesson for Todd Boehly as he looks to add a new striker to Chelsea's summer list.
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