Chelsea’s assault set piece stats have improved quite a bit this season, however the reverse has been true of their defensive numbers.
Liam Twomey’s piece about Chelsea at the moment is a deep dive on the Blues’ defensive set items woes. It’s been a irritating concern all yr, and one which Liam Rosenior has not been in a position to simply type out.
Commercial
The stats are fairly damning: “solely 4 Premier League groups have conceded extra targets from defensive set items than Chelsea (11) in 2025-26,” Twomey writes.
“In response to Opta, no group within the division has given up extra anticipated targets (xG) when defending dead-ball conditions (13.5).”
It’s a wierd reversal of their enchancment on attacking set items.
Chelsea have simple methods to enhance set piece struggles
Jamie Redknapp on Alejandro Garnacho’s mistake.
Twomey factors to some causes for our struggles: for one, we’re removed from the most important and strongest group within the Premier League, which has had fairly the arms race in these areas in recent times. A concentrate on signing technically good gamers has us prime of the xG charts, however struggling defensively. Which may be a trade-off we simply have to simply accept, to an extent.
Commercial
He additionally drills into the stats additional and finds that it’s particularly lengthy throws we’re battling. It’s additionally famous how our give pink playing cards this season have damage us at set items. That must be a a lot simpler one to type out.
In different information…
Liam Delap has been the main focus of a whole lot of criticism not too long ago, and an unique at the moment has claimed he
Geovany Quenda doing a little rehab and getting used to the environment as he prepares for a summer season transfer.
Try the newest version of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast right here: