Welcome to The Draft Society’s team-by-team previews, a vital part of the 23/24 Draft Kit! These articles will provide a one-stop-shop for all the important Fantasy EPL themes from a Fantrax perspective. With players to watch, players to avoid, points projections and early season fixtures analysis, we've got it all covered. Our Draft Premier League Team Previews will help set you up to dominate your draft! Let's get stuck in to Mauricio Pochettino's new project at Chelsea.
Check back often! Our team previews will be updated throughout the summer as any new transfer, injury, or rotation developments come to light.
Check out our 23/24 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need. We've got a Live Draft Aide, Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Cheat Sheets, Strategy Articles, Draft 101, plus so much more!
Chelsea Team Preview 23/24
Check out our in-depth look at Chelsea's prospects for the new EPL season below. This information will form a key component to your draft prep and set you up to dominate your draft!
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Fantasy Flashback
Let's review how Chelsea players fared in 22/23, with an emphasis on their Draft Premier League fantasy assets. But, we'll also discuss any pertinent info regarding managerial tactics, formation, injuries, etc. What can we learn from their performance in the last campaign?
Note: The following table is interactive. Desktop users can apply the Filter, Group, and Sort buttons to arrange the data to their preferences. Mobile users can tap on a player card to view all data points. The table can be reset to its default state by refreshing the page.
Abysmal. Shambolic. Catastrophic. These are just a few words any Chelsea fan can use to describe the 22/23 EPL season. In fact, this was Chelsea’s worst season in Premier League history. Lest we forget, Chelsea signed World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez (the most expensive midfielder in history) along with an army of assets who all massively under performed. Speaking of under performers, the table above paints a pretty telling picture.
The Blues had a decent number of players who qualified for our "fantasy relevant" cutoff of 6 starts and 7 points per start, but that's where the positives end. It's staggering that such a successful club in recent years only managed to have two players finish inside the top 100 for overall points, and one of them was a goalkeeper! Kepa Arrizabalaga is also the only one on the list to have outperformed his ADP. Welp.
It probably didn’t help that Chelsea had four different managers in charge: Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor and Frank Lampard – but we don’t talk about Bruno. It says a lot that undrafted assets such as January additions Noni Madueke (9.6) and Benoit Badiashile (9.1), as well as youth player Lewis Hall (9) ended up in Chelsea's top 5 players for PPS. So how did we get here? The table below shows the breakdown of FPts, FP/G and their ranking among the aforementioned table of Chelsea assets during each manager’s tenure.
Unfortunately, this has been one of the most emotional transfer windows as a Chelsea fan because we’ve witnessed nearly half of the players, highlighted in orange, move on to other clubs. N’Golo Kante, Chelsea’s best PPS player last season (10.3) and one-season-wonder Kalidou Koulibaly, who ended the season as Chelsea’s 2nd highest FPts DEF asset (152 FPts) have both been swooped up by the Saudi Professional League; Mason Mount, considered by most as Mr. Chelsea, the heir to Frank Lampard’s legacy and in recent seasons the 1st Chelsea player most Fantrax managers drafted in Round 1 or 2, has moved up north and joined Manchester United; lastly Kai Havertz, Chelsea’s top scoring FPts player (265.5), highest ranked (71), most number of starts (30) and most number of goals (7) has now moved to North London rivals Arsenal.
On a more positive note, the players who have remained are still worth a draft spot or stashing in your roster. Reece James showed signs last season that he is still a Top-3 Chelsea asset while playing under Tuchel and Lampard, apart from being plagued by injuries; Raheem Sterling, not known for being a ghost-points machine, was still able to accumulate the most FPts of all Chelsea assets under Tuchel and Lampard as well; Ben Chilwell was a consistent Top-4 asset in both FPts and FP/G under the consecutive tenures of Tuchel and Potter but saw a dip in form due to a devastating hamstring injury in the latter portion of the season. Additionally, Benoit Badiashile saw most of his playing time during the Potter era and showed signs of being a Top-2 Chelsea DEF but now faces a spell on the sidelines due an injury that he is still recovering from. Finally, young players such Noni Madueke and Lewis Hall showed their true potential under Lampard by being given the opportunity to play consistent football. This resulted in both players scoring the 2nd and 3rd most FPts respectively in the final managerial tenure. So not everything is dark and dreary for the West London outfit.
Overall Team Performance
The Blues finished 12th in the table, amassing a meager 44 points, which was the club’s lowest tally since the EPL was established in 1992. As if that record wasn’t bad enough, Chelsea also managed to have a negative goal difference of minus-nine which had not happened since 1995. Oh Boehyyy. However, in classic Chelsea fashion, they have hired yet another manager. Enter Mauricio Pochettino.
Fantasy Forecast
So in preparation for the 23/24 season, we will take a glance at Pochettino’s record in the EPL as a manager along with Chelsea player projections. This data and analysis will allow us to pinpoint 3 key players to keep an eye on, 3 players we're staying away from, 3 question marks surrounding the club at this moment, and an analysis of the Blues' early-season fixtures.
Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino burst on to the EPL scene at Southampton around the halfway point of the 2012/13 season. He then spent the full 2013/14 season with the Saints and, at that time, helped them finish a stellar 8th position in the table. Pochettino then left Southampton and joined Tottenham Hotspur for the 2014/15 season and stayed until 12 games into the 2019/20 season. During his time at Spurs, he helped the North London club in achieving runner-up positions in the League Cup (2015), Premier League (2017) and the Champions League (2019). It’s fair to say he massively helped Tottenham in maintaining a Top-6 status in the league but as any other Fantrax manager, we’re curious as to what was under the hood of his success. The table below shows Pochettino’s 38-gameweek seasons at Southampton and Spurs.
It’s quite evident that Pochettino’s teams know how to score goals, while mainly utilizing a 4-2-3-1 formation. During his full 6 seasons in the EPL, his teams scored at least one goal per game, where his Spurs team neared 2 goals per game for 2 seasons. However, defensively it appears as though it took a couple of seasons for his teams to become solid at the back, as his Spurs team had its best defensive numbers sandwiched between the 2015/16 and 2017/18 seasons. So given this is his debut season at Chelsea, let’s focus our attention on the attacking data and have a look at which players stood out during his tenures. The table below shows the leading goal scorers and assisters during Pochettino’s 38-gameweek seasons at Southampton and Spurs.
Now this is a lot of data to take in so let’s simplify the analysis a bit. Ignoring the obvious assets such as Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, we can see that Pochettino’s wide players or second-strikers such as Chadli, Alli, Son and even the forgotten Lucas Moura all registered double digit numbers for goals scored. When we look at assists registered, it’s very interesting to note that almost every season, there was at least one fullback that registered at least 3 assists. If we assume that this trend continues, then players such as Raheem Sterling, Reece James and Ben Chilwell come to mind as Chelsea assets that we should be considering drafting or rostering for the 23/24 season. So let’s dive into some projected numbers to help us better understand which players we should pick.
23/24 Player Projections
Below, you'll find our season projections for Chelsea fantasy assets. Our projections are created using a number of contributing factors such as past performance, fixture difficulty ratings, anticipated minutes played, and more. PPS (Points Per Start) and ProjTotFPts (Projected Total Points) refer to Fantrax Default Scoring.
The table above has been arranged by the projected fantasy points Chelsea's players will score in 23/24. In an ideal world, you would want a player that starts almost every game in the season so you don’t have to worry about lineups every weekend and not having to constantly depend on your bench to field a full XI. However, fantasy points are more important than appearances, as PPS is the metric that typically helps you win your matchup every gameweek. For example, even though Enzo Fernandez is projected to start the most number of games (36), a ProjPPS of 7.6 isn’t as valuable as Reece James’ 11.1 ProjPPS even though the projected number of starts is considerably fewer (23).
3 Players to Watch
We've highlighted 3 players (and some honorable mentions) from Chelsea that we're keeping an eye on. Some players mentioned below may be sleepers. Some may be up-and-coming youngsters. Some may be vying for a spot in the XI. Whatever the case, we'll tell you why we're watching these 3 in EPL Draft Fantasy this year.
Raheem Sterling
Position: Forward
22/23 Points: 209.5 (25th best forward)
22/23 Points Per Start: 8.1 (23 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 25-36 (12 Team League: Late Round 2/Early Round 3)
Analysis: The Boy from Brent has not had the easiest debut season for Chelsea. The table below shows the past 6 seasons that Raheem Sterling has played in the EPL and coincides with what managers would consider as his most inform run in the EPL. His double-digit numbers in goals scored for 5 consecutive seasons should not be taken lightly, despite playing for serial winners Manchester City.
Now, Sterling has never been a ghost points machine but last season was one of his worst points output in recent years and having such a tumultuous 22/23 season under 4 different managers could not have been the best environment for any player, let alone the England international. However if we are to believe that Pochettino is a quality manager and based on his historical impact on wingers, we should expect Sterling to rediscover his goal scoring form and comfortably be categorized as a FWD-2.
Ben Chilwell
Position: Defender
22/23 Points: 149.75 (44th best defender)
22/23 Points Per Start: 7.4 (15 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 61-72 (12 Team League: Round 6)
Analysis: Top performing DEFs such as Trippier and TAA are difficult to draft when managers are trying to roster top FWDs and MIDs, therefore assets such as Ben Chilwell offer a later route to a potentially rated Top 15 DEF. During Chilwell's time at Leicester, he finished the 2018/19 season as the 8th best defender (10.44 FP/G - 36 games played) and the 2019/20 season as the 15th best defender (10.46 FP/G - 27 games played), even though he played 9 games fewer in the 2019/20 season. He then replicated this form during his debut season at Chelsea in 2020/21 by finishing as the 11th best defender (10.9 FP/G - 27 games played). Chilwell has the ability to average at least 10 PPG however his recent form has been afflicted by lengthy injuries. For the 2021/22 season he was ranked as the 76th best defender despite averaging 15.71 FP/G (7 games played) and finished as the 44th best defender last season (6.51 FP/G - 23 games played).
Given the fact that Chelsea are not in any European competitions, this should lessen the workload for most players in the Chelsea squad. This means that Chilwell is less likely to get injured as the rest time between EPL games should be longer than in recent seasons. Furthermore, one of the reasons why top DEF assets such as Trippier and TAA are so highly sought after is due to their route to FPts via set pieces such as corners. Corners are an easy path to generating KPs. In recent seasons at Chelsea, both James and Chilwell have had the opportunity to take corners and given the fact that assets such as Hakim Ziyech and Mason Mount have left the club, there is a big chance that Chilwell could see an uptick in corner responsibilities. In fact, Chilwell took the 3rd most corners (32) during the 2020/21 season, the 4th most corners during the 2021/22 season (25) but then took the most corners last season (52). Chilwell also has an eye for goal which further increases his appeal as a fantasy option for Fantrax managers, scoring 8 goals in 3 seasons so far – he also scored in Chelsea’s 1st preseason game.
Noni Madueke
Position: Forward
22/23 Points: 90.5 (60th best forward - January transfer)
22/23 Points Per Start: 9.6 (7 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 121-132 (12 Team League: Round 11)
Analysis: The former Tottenham Hotspur youth player and recently crowned 2023 U-21 Euro Champion was a shining light in an otherwise dark season for Chelsea during the 2022/23 EPL season. Noni Madueke started most of his games (5 of 7) in the latter portion of the season under the tutelage of Frank Lampard and it was during that period that Madueke was the 2nd highest in FPts (57.5). One of the things that stood out during Madueke’s debut season was his ability to rack up Ghost Points. In fact, by the end of the 2022/23 season, Madueke sat 5th in Ghost points per start for all Chelsea outfielders even though he was 20th for minutes played (635). His points production were via two main categories, Key Passes (KP) and Successful Dribbles (CoS). If you analyse the rate at which he created a chance or successfully dribbled past an opponent, he sat 6th and 2nd respectively for all Chelsea outfielders. If Madueke nails a starting spot in the Chelsea XI, Fantrax Managers may be obtaining an absolute steal in the latter portion of their drafts.
Honorable Mention:
As mentioned in the previous section of this article, Pochettino’s wingers tend to flourish. Therefore we’re expecting an improvement in the likes of players such as Mykhailo Mudryk. The Ukrainian wonderkid is projected to start approximately 25 games with a ProjPPS of 8.5. In 12-team leagues, managers should be able to draft him between Round 6 & 7.
Another couple of assets we’re keeping a close eye on are both DEFs Levi Colwill & Thiago Silva. Given the recent season ending injury to Wesley Fofana, the recovering Benoit Badiashile and the departed Kalidou Koulibaly, Chelsea are quite thin in the centre-back department. Thiago Silva should be a nailed starter given his experience and footballing quality while Levi Colwill had his breakout moment in the EPL last season, while on loan at Brighton. Although Colwill (Round 10/11) has been going earlier than Thiago Silva (Round 13/14) in recent drafts, we expect the Brazilian to out-perform his compatriot given his averaged FP/G of approximately 7 FPts over the past three seasons.
3 Players to Avoid
It's not all sunshine and rainbows at Stamford Bridge. At least, not as far as Draft Fantasy Football is concerned. Below, we will also highlight 3 fantasy assets that we're not so thrilled about. These are the 3 Chelsea players you might want to avoid come draft day.
Christopher Nkunku
Position: Forward
22/23 Points: N/A
22/23 Points Per Start: N/A
Recommended Draft Pick: 37-48 (12 Team League: Round 4)
Analysis: Chelsea were quite adamant in securing the signing of Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig as the Frenchman recently emerged as one of the top scoring talents in Europe. During the 2021-22 Bundesliga season, Nkunku ended tied 4th for goals scored (20) with Anthony Modeste, finishing behind the likes of Robert Lewandowski (35), Patrik Schick (24) and the most recent EPL Golden Boot winner Erling Haaland (22) – quite the company to keep. Nkunku then followed up this performance by ending as the top scorer in the most recent Bundesliga season with 16 goals.
Now all these goal scoring statistics are a great read but managers should be understandably cautious as another RB Leipzig striker by the name of Timo Werner scored 28 goals in the 2019-20 Bundesliga season before his move to Chelsea – and we all know how that turned out. In fact, we can better contextualize the comparison of both Leipzig players during their Bundesliga seasons prior to their Chelsea move using the graphic above – the results might shock you.
Timo Werner bettered Christopher Nkunku in Shooting %, Shots, Non-Penalty Goals, Non-penalty xG, xA, Assists and Open Play Shots Created for Others. Given the fact that Timo Werner massively struggled during his time at Chelsea, granted during a global pandemic while in a foreign country, Nkunku might not warrant his current ADP of Round 2 or early Round 3. Tread cautiously.
Reece James
Position: Defender
22/23 Points: 137 (51st best defender)
22/23 Points Per Start: 9.8 (14 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 40-50 (12 Team League: Late Round 4/Early Round 5)
Analysis: Now I know what you’re thinking, AVOID REECE JAMES?! James at one point during the last few seasons was easily ranked as a DEF-1. Also, if you consider the assets that have remained at the club since last season, James has the best PPS (9.8) as well as the highest ProjPPS (11.1). However, given his recent injury record, James is a high-risk, high-reward asset. During the 2019/20 season, James recorded 4 injuries that kept him out of action for 133 days. It got better during the 2020/21 season as he only had 2 injuries with an absence of 39 days. However it got significantly worse. In the 2021/22 season he had 4 injuries that kept him out for 84 days while last season he had 6 injuries that kept him out for a whopping 146 days, resulting in James playing the fewest number of games during any league campaign (16).
As you can see, James’ injury record has been steadily getting worse. In fact, during pre-season training, Reece was rumoured to have been scheduled for yet another scan for a possible injury. Another concern is James was not even involved in their first friendly versus Wrexham. Chelsea will not risk long-term injury to their gem of a player especially since they recruited a back-up RB in Malo Gusto. That being said, you can avoid drafting Reece and still have the opportunity to buy-low later on in the season.
Enzo Fernandez
Position: Midfielder
22/23 Points: 115 (90th best midfielder - January transfer)
22/23 Points Per Start: 6.4 (18 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: Don't
Analysis: Enzo Fernandez is currently the most expensive midfielder transfer in history. Having joined the club during the January transfer window, off the back of successful World Cup campaign with Argentina, there’s a lot of expectation from Chelsea’s new #5. During Graham Potter’s time in charge at Chelsea, Enzo was averaging around 8.22 PPG, which is a pretty healthy return. However under Lampard’s management, he dropped to under 5 PPG. Enzo was only able to record 2 assists in 18 games and we’re not sure what to expect from him under Pochettino given that the club is expecting to sign a combative midfielder to partner him. Enzo is currently being drafted around Round 8/9 and we think there are better options to be drafted. Consistent starts are great but higher PPS is better!
Honorable Mention:
Other assets we think are worth being cautious on are youth player Lewis Hall and “once-upon-a-time-Crystal-Palace-legend” Conor Gallagher. Both players saw their best form under Frank Lampard. Lewis Hall averaged 12.5 PPG and amassed the 2nd highest FPts (50). However with Ben Chilwell back to full fitness, Marc Cucurella trying to prove himself and Ian Maatsen returning from a successful Championship campaign with Burnley, Lewis Hall might have a tough time breaking back into the starting XI. That being said, although Gallagher may have more starts and potentially more minutes, he only averaged around 5.89 PPG which was his best phase of all four managerial stints. Fans have been crying for Boehly & co. to sign a creative midfielder, so Conor’s days may be numbered.
3 Question Marks
Not everything is crystal clear and predictable at Chelsea. These are 3 questions surrounding the Blues that we’re grappling with this preseason. We’ll try to note whether or not (and how much) these questions are affecting our perceptions of Chelsea's fantasy assets.
History of Sacking Managers – During the Abramovich era, Chelsea had a reputation for sacking their managers if results were either poor or not consistent. Fans from Stamford Bridge are quite vocal during games and as seen in the past, the supporter’s frustrations can quickly flow onto the pitch. If the right results are not achieved in the near future, especially after losing so many beloved long-term players and spending billions of pounds on shiny new assets like Enzo and Mudryk , the mood at Chelsea will turn sour.
In Boehly’s first season alone, we saw four different managers occupy the dugout using different tactics and resulting in different Chelsea players shining under each manager. The pressure is on Pochettino. So there is always a risk that the Chelsea assets you start the season with, might not be the ones you sign off the campaign with.
Squad Depth – Given the mass exodus at Chelsea, fans have been crying out for further additions to the squad so there isn’t a repeat performance similar to the 2022/23 season. Ideally, Chelsea could bolster their squad with a STK, CAM, CDM and CB. These possible new additions could either boost or hurt existing Chelsea assets and that has yet to be determined as the transfer window shuts on September 1st, which is the start of Gameweek 4. Therefore not all drafted players can keep their starting spot in the XI. So don’t fret if you don’t get a Chelsea player to start the season as there’s a good chance you may get a few gems off the waiver wire within the first few gameweeks of the 2023/24 season.
No Europe – It’s a well-known fact that Chelsea was closer to being relegated than they were to being in any European competition. Pochettino’s main goal should be to improve Chelsea’s league table position and to achieve at least a top-6 finish. Therefore prioritizing the league means that we should see a more consistent Starting XI and who doesn’t like not having to check team sheets in a panic just to confirm if your initially drafted asset is starting games during the season. So if you don’t move quickly to obtain well-performing Chelsea assets, it may cost you some FAAB or more. You snooze, you lose.
Early-Season Fixture Difficulty
The way that teams come out the gate has big implications in EPL Draft. A red hot start creates red hot trade targets. A dismal start means plummeting player values and losses for your fantasy team. Check out our thoughts on Chelsea's early-season fixtures and our analysis of the fantasy implications they will have.
Chelsea’s first two fixtures will be a great test to Pochettino’s new squad as they come up against 2019/20 EPL champions Liverpool and 2022/23 European Conference League champions West Ham United. DEF and GK assets should ideally be benched as a precaution but you can risk starting your MIDs and FWDs. However, after Gameweek 2, there is a sea of green fixtures until Gameweek 9, when Chelsea face runners-up Arsenal. If you believe that Chelsea assets will perform much better this season, buying low before Gameweek 3 would be our suggestion. There’s a chance that Chelsea assets then increase in value and this presents an opportunity to the non-believers as an opportunity to sell-high before Gameweek 9.
23/24 Chelsea Predicted Lineup
The following lineup represents our prediction for the most likely line-up for the long-term for Chelsea in the upcoming season. We can't account for injuries or new transfers, but this should provide a reasonable guide for who will be the preferred starters for the majority of Premier League matches this season. A LOT of question marks around the midfield spots for Chelsea. Currently, they desperately need a CM to partner Enzo, and Nkunku's long-term injury leaves the number 10 spot wide open. We expect a few more, potentially big-name signings to come in. Madueke is the only natural RW in the squad and Sterling might be preferred to start with, but the youngster will put up a good fight to claim that spot.
More Team Previews: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton | Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Luton | Liverpool | Man City | Man United | Newcastle | Nottingham Forest | Sheffield United | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves
Check out our 23/24 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need. We've got a Live Draft Aide, Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Cheat Sheets, Strategy Articles, Draft 101, plus so much more. Dominate your draft!
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