It has been a positive season so far for Chelsea. Maurizio Sarri’s style of play has been implemented much quicker than expected, Chelsea haven’t lost yet and Eden Hazard is looking every bit of the world class player that he is. Everything is looking rosy…or is it? Chelsea have just come out of a mini two-game series with Liverpool positively; firstly by knocking them out of the Carabao Cup and then drawing with them in the league. But while progress is being made, the two games highlighted a stark difference between the teams; Daniel Sturridge registered a goal in both games. One a poacher’s finish and the other a wonder goal from outside the box, however, neither of Chelsea’s strikers, Olivier Giroud or Alvaro Morata, could make an impact.
Since Diego Costa left the club last season, Chelsea have been searching for a suitable replacement. Strikers such as Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud have tried; everyone thought Alvaro Morata was going to be the one but so far it’s not to be. While the start to the season has been encouraging; Chelsea can’t rely on their inside forwards getting all the goals for the rest of the year, the strikers are going to need to chip in. Hazard and Pedro are currently Chelsea’s top scorers but it would be a surprise if they maintain this level of goal scoring throughout the season. You would hope that either Giroud or Morata would step up, but looking at their attacking stats so far this season, these hopes appear very misplaced.
Giroud & Morata (Vs Chelsea players)
Chelsea have scored 18 goals so far this season but between the two strikers, only one of those goals have been scored by the men primarily employed to put the ball in the net.
As you can see, both strikers are not even the main goal-scoring threats during the games; Pedro and Hazard both have more shots per game than anyone else in the squad, 3 and 2.6 shots per game respectively. Morata and Giroud are having as many shots per game as Chelsea’s full-backs…
WhoScored’s overall rating metric sees Chelsea’s main men languishing in the bottom reaches of the squad. At least Giroud is in the top 10 players (10th) with a rating of 6.89. Morata comes in at 13th of the 18 players to have appeared this season.
Giroud & Morata (Vs Premier League)
While these statistics already make for bad reading when just comparing them with their Chelsea teammates, if we open up the comparison to the rest of the league, Giroud and Morata should hang their heads in shame. Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Liverpool’s Mo Salah are having more than double the amount of shots that Chelsea’s strike duo take. In fact, amongst the illustrious names of players who threaten Premier League goals more often than Giroud and Morata are Steve Mounie at Huddersfield and Josh Murphy from Cardiff; two teams who are definitely not known for their attacking prowess.
Although it is early on in the season, something needs to change. If Chelsea have legit aspirations of winning the title, they need at least one striker they can rely on for goals. For that to happen, Chelsea will need to dip into the transfer market in January or better yet, their goal-shy strikers need to start to up their output. The best strikers give themselves every opportunity to score, Giroud and Morata need to start taking responsibility and shooting more often; it is then, that the goals will come.
