Chelsea set to deliver Premier League nightmare as Enzo Maresca unlocks transfer masterplan

Who needs a full pre-season anyway? Chelsea look to have hit their stride without even a week of training as Enzo Maresca's side completed a weekend double header with consecutive wins over testing opposition.

On paper, both Milan and Bayer Leverkusen should have been reasonable benchmarks to pit Chelsea with, even if they were likely lacking match sharpness and conditioning. As it happened, Erik ten Hag and Max Allegri will have left Stamford Bridge with questions over their own sides' states of readiness instead.

Despite being crowned as the World Champions not even one month ago, Chelsea arrived back home with a sense of uncertainty. How much would their later holiday impact the start of the season and how long would new signings need to gel and come up to speed?

As it happens, not long at all. All of the positive momentum flowing from the end of Maresca's first year in charge has continued, setting a strong platform for things to get even better moving forward. Now bolstered by increased strentgh in depth across the field, it is too early to say but they do look like the real deal.

It is far too soon to label them as potential title challengers but in terms of bettering 2024/25, Chelsea are well set to increase the gap to their top four-chasing rivals who were within touching distance for much of the past 12 months.

In fact, such is the gear change at SW6 since the start of May, Chelsea will start the new season with their eyes on Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal more than Aston Villa, Newcastle United, and even Tottenham or Manchester United. Here, they put a Milan side packed full of players of interest to the home crowd to the sword.

An early goal and Joao Pedro's fifth in Chelsea colours (although just how competitive some of them are will remain debatable, he can claim to have three that should possibly count toward his overall total) set the Blues on their way to a second victory in the space of three days.

Before going into the main talking points from the match, a caveat should be that Milan are under new management after a shocking season just gone. They played in Dublin on Saturday against Leeds United, drawing 1-1 with a rotated team.

So, for all of Chelsea's own challenges due to scheduling, Milan were also coming in far from at their best. However, they have had longer to prepare this summer than Chelsea and still put out an XI with Fikayo Tomori, Mike Maignan, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao.

Enough of that, though, he's what stood out for Chelsea:

Crystal Palace hint

With only two games to try and find their footing again, Chelsea had to balance the unenviable task of sharing minutes, testing players out, experimenting with tactical instructions and not overstretching bodies who have just come back from a much-needed rest. Although most players had returned on Monday before the Leverkusen game and would have been working on their fitness and conditioning while away, it is always hard to go straight back into a game scenario without much of a runway.

That is only made tougher when considering the pressure of being Premier League-ready, essentially going from a sitting start to sprinting in the space of just a fortnight. There, with less work to analyse, each selection and substitution takes on a bigger meaning.

Therefore, when Maresca opted to keep four of his starting XI the same for both matches, it sent a message. Much like Chelsea had done in America at the Club World Cup, they were almost as strong as possible.

First-choice goalkeeper Robert Sanchez returned, while captain Reece James and Enzo Fernandez were also added. Pedro Neto got the nod with Jamie Gittens and Joao Pedro coming in as well. On paper, it is the best set Maresca could have gone for.

When fit, Wesley Fofana is likely a starter, especially with Levi Colwill out injured, but he was ruled out of both friendlies before the weekend begun. Romeo Lavia is in the same camp but is not in contention either. Fofana may be ready for Crystal Palace next Sunday, but more on that in a minute.

The prevailing feeling from Maresca's selection was that he had picked his best team and therefore the one that he would ideally play against Palace. Although changes came at half-time again, it at least allowed for 45 minutes together before gradually things were altered.

Centre-back crisis?

It's been a worrying week for Cobham graduate centre-backs at Chelsea with a last name beginning with 'C'. First, Colwill goes down in the first training session back, only to need surgery on his ACL and then Trevoh Chalobah had to be taken off before the hour mark with a knock of his own.

Maresca made a set of substitutes a few minutes later, reinforcing the fact that although the plan may have been to remove Chalobah, it was not meant to be quite at that stage.

With much of the talk since Thursday and news of Colwill's injury being about whether Chelsea should buy a new centre-back, seeing Chalobah require treatment and then not get back onto the field was deeply concerning.

Maresca would have been thankful that the Englishman was able to walk around the pitch in order to take a seat on the bench, but he would have been forgiven for letting his heart drop all the same.

On Friday he admitted that bolstering the defence was a priority before the transfer window closes. It has been debated whether that means via the market and a signing, or finding solutions in-house.

His use of Josh Acheampong across the two games and switching Tosin Adarabioyo and Chalobah on the left of his defence suggests that there is more than enough for him to choose from. When Fofana and Badiashile are back, Chelsea will be even more well stocked.

As was the case against Leverkusen, Jorrel Hato came on at left-back for Marc Cucurella rather than in the middle. If Chalobah was to miss any meaningful period himself then things would have to be re-assessed.

Fortunately, he did not appear to be in too much pain at full-time as he took part in the lap of appreciation with his teammates. Afterward, Chalobah posted online, saying that he was fine, but for a while on Sunday, there was a sense of lightning striking twice.

Striker competition

Premier League defences are going to be up against it to deal with 90 minutes of Chelsea's striker options this season. A few weeks ago this looked likely to be because Nicolas Jackson and Liam Delap would be running at them, around them, past them and through them consistently.

Now, it is because Pedro has settled into life at a top club incredibly quickly and Delap is still a bulldozer. Although Delap may well be suited more to a role as an impact player for now, that will be perfectly fine for Chelsea and Maresca if he continues to cause the problems he has this summer.

Between them, Chelsea have a full game of energy and relentless questions to ask. Pedro drops deep to link play, bringing down long balls from his goalkeeper and defence, before then attacking the box while Delap has a much simpler game. The 22-year-old has benefited by developing with the game of someone from a background in the Championship but with elite academy basics.

This is in contrast to Pedro, who is much more subtler and cute with his on-ball play but still physically imposing. Together they tick a lot of boxes and although there may not be loads of them featuring at the same time, spreading them across a season will be a serious weapon.

Deep depth

Yes, that makes sense. Chelsea have deep depth. It has already been written that they are overflowing at the back (when players aren't injured), and the same is true across the field.

Moises Caicedo and Fernandez are going to start most games but, in Dario Essugo and Andrey Santos, Chelsea have more than enough cover. Add in Lavia, who offers the type of press resistance through dribbling and line-breaking passes that few else can and Chelsea are truly blessed.

Essugo and Andrey provide the sort of off-ball defensive contributions that will shut games down, while also being an ideal big-match destroyer pair. Then there is the attack.

If it's not Pedro Neto, it's Estevao Willian who looks ready to make a real impact straight away. As mentioned, if it's not Delap it's Pedro. And if it's not Palmer then it promises to be Xavi Simons.

Jamie Gittens on the left could face a fight with Alejandro Garnacho. On the one hand it is hard to keep all of these players happy but it truly would be a nice problem to have. Chelsea have so many options both for a starting XI and for changes within specific scenarios.

Maresca has shown just how deep his squad goes this weekend and with potential additions plus returning players from injury, it's only going to get deeper. Because all of this has been said without the acknowledgement that James is back, now eight months free from injury and looking better with every outing.

Chelsea have weapons on set-pieces with Estevao, James, and Palmer all swinging them in, while the timing of substitutions by Maresca has allowed for full 180 minutes of near total football with purpose. That is not always a given during a season, let alone in pre-season and let alone in the first or second games of it.

Chelsea were always going to have to buck the trend with their summer preparations this year and they look to have done it better than anyone could have imagined.