Chelsea have played two games in the Premier League so far, one against a good team and one against a bad one.
That’s Arsenal and Huddersfield; in that order, to be clear.
It’s a small sample size, but we’re gradually building up data on how this team is performing compared to last season’s inconsistent and ultimately insufficient efforts under Antonio Conte.
You can start with the shots the team is taking. That’s up to 18.5 per game this season, from 15.9 in Conte’s second and final campaign.
Despite complaints about our defensive efforts in the two games, our shots faced per game is 10.5, similar to last season’s 9.9. You might say that’s because last season’s defensive efforts were no good, but the stats say otherwise. Those figures were enough to make us the fourth best in the league in terms of how many attempts our defenders allowed on Thibaut Courtois’ goal.
Unfortunately for us, a few too many of those shots went in.
It’s early days, but the hopeful Chelsea fan can still look at the first results and think that things are going pretty well. Another good result, and a good performance away at Newcastle this weekend will see excitement grow even further.
