A Blue Up North previews Chelsea’s opening match of the season away to Huddersfield Town.
The 2018/19 English Premier League campaign fires up into life this weekend and Chelsea make the trip up to West Yorkshire to visit Huddersfield Town. After surprising most with their promotion from The Championship in 2017, The Terriers’ held on to their top flight status as they finished in 16th last season, 4 points clear of relegation.
With David Wagner deservedly receiving all the plaudits for his successful management of squad devoid of any star names, surely the highlight of their season was their home victory over Manchester United. However, his side lacked any ambition nor any cutting edge when they hosted The Blues.
Chelsea dominated the game as they took a 3-0 lead inside 50 minutes, including a rare goal from Tiemoue Bakayoko. Despite a late consolation from the hosts, Antonio Conte’s side finished off what had been a difficult week with a comfortable 3-1 win at the John Smiths Stadium.
This summer, Huddersfield have been one of the most active Premier League clubs in the transfer window. 6 players have moved on, including Rob Green to The Blues and Tom Ince to Stoke City, whilst they have signed 6 new players, including a new club record purchase when Terence Kongolo joined from Monaco.
The general consensus of opinion is that Wagner’s side will be fighting against relegation again this season. They are currently second favourites at most bookies, behind Cardiff City, to drop back down into The Championship. They will be hoping that their strong togetherness within the squad and their tough resolute style of play can see them amass enough points to survive once again.
Chelsea’s summer has seen less but far more significant activity. A change of manager was soon followed by £57m expenditure on midfielder Jorginho. Then, during this last week, The Blues broke the world record fee for a goalkeeper in bringing Kepa Arrizabalaga to West London as a replacement for long term want away Thibaut Courtois. Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic then joined The Blues on a season long loan from Real Madrid.
On the face of it, this may seem like too little too late. But in reality this is only partly true. Remember most of this squad have won the league and the cup in the last 2 seasons and with a regular roll out of successful youth players closing in on the first team squad, the club do not need quantity in their new signings.
What is far more important is their quality. All these 3 incoming players are all likely to be first team regulars. Kepa will be first choice keeper potentially for many seasons to come. Jorginho will anchor the Chelsea midfield, while Kovacic is likely to play regularly as he competes with the likes of Barkley and Loftus-Cheek as an attacking midfielder alongside N’Golo Kante.
However the transfers of Kepa and Kovacic may have come too late for them to feature at Huddersfield. Add to that the players who featured in the last weekend of the World Cup and Sarri has a depleted squad from which to choose his first Premier League team.
We can expect to see a side very similar to the team who started the Community Shield on Sunday. However, Kepa could be thrown straight into his first match for The Blues only 2 days after signing for the club. Willian may also be included despite only having 1 full week of preseason.
Huddersfield themselves could well give debuts to some of their new signings and the hosts will believe that this is the optimum time to play Chelsea. Indeed, as Sarri tries to stamp his system and style of play over his players, the early stages of the season could well see The Blues at their most vulnerable.
Although both clubs are likely to end the season towards the opposing ends of The Premier League, this opening match could see The Terriers’ best chance to get a result. Despite Sarri’s preference to play a fast paced attacking style, his side’s main priority will need to match their host’s effort and determination. That should allow their quality to then shine through. But it is clearly a match that potentially anything could happen.
So we are at the precipice of another new season, but I’m sure none of us believe this will be just another season for all who follow The Blues. And I can not wait for how this season is going to transpire.
Written by Jon Ellis, home and away season ticket holder. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
