The Premiership and The Champions League: How Can The Blues Go?
The Blues need to do some serious homework. While it clearly felt like the club could potentially have lived a magic, game-changer match against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League recently, there’s a lot to be done at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea lived what will probably be remembered as one of the oddest changes in club ownership ever. By the time Abramovic was forced to leave, most of the controversies around his name had been dissipated long ago.
Now Chelsea has a young, talented squad, worth €1.02B according to most sources as of today. But no rising star wants to miss a Champions League season.
The Qualification for the 2023/24 Champions League: The Big Challenge
The EPL standings aren’t looking any promising for Chelsea. To qualify for the upcoming UCL via the Prem, it’s key to calculate who could drop from the top 4. Tottenham is a natural candidate, with 2 more matches played (28) than most contenders for the qualification to the biggest footie competition in the World in the next season.
The ongoing season of The Prem will certainly be thrilling for Chelsea fans. Staying tuned and checking what’s going on at other games in the final rounds will be an exciting experience, and a keen Premier League API can help a lot to check live scores of other games that happen during Chelsea matches.
Chelsea is relatively close to Fulham, Brentford and Brighton in the table, and perhaps the biggest rival beyond Spurs and Newcastle – which is not living the best moment in the season – would be Liverpool FC.
Tradition, squad depth and confidence are very important when it comes to climbing up the standings late in the season. The EPL seems to be the most rational goal to reaching the UCL in the coming season.
When a team starts aiming for a Cup title to qualify for European footie, something is wrong. You can try to go all the way and win the UCL, but if your domestic action is not consistent enough to qualify naturally for the upcoming Champions League, this reflects some imbalances in the team.
We all know that January was a big bet for Chelsea. Of course, it is a long-term bet, but history suggests that young players easily feel bored if they are distant from European football for too long. Even if the Europa League isn’t exactly the goal of The Blues, finishing 5th in the EPL may at least grant some decent action in 2023/24. The absence of European-level football would be catastrophic to keep the young squad motivated for the upcoming season.
Summary: The Future of Chelsea
If Chelsea fails to qualify for European-level football in the coming season, managing the aspirations of the squad by saying that they arrived for the long term may be a situation where this is easier said than done.
Chelsea now has a squad with an average age of 25.3, with 65% of the squad being composed of foreign players. The Premier League has recently been voted the most reputable brand in the UK, and players usually fancy playing there, but time will tell what will happen next season at Stamford Bridge.
If the Blues, however, lift the UCL trophy and qualify via this triumph to the next Champions League, then the beginning of a new era of golden rising stars would start on the right foot. However, there are giants on their way right now, as the Blues will face Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the UCL.
Regardless of what happens, we surely will have exciting times ahead at Stamford Bridge!
