“Personally, I want to take on that role and help the team out” - Ben Chilwell identifies Chelsea problem despite 1-0 win over Fulham
Ben Chilwell has stated that Chelsea could make use of hardened leaders despite their 1-0 Premier League win over Fulham on Saturday (13 January).
The Blues made it three league wins in a row as a first-half stoppage-time Cole Palmer spot-kick was enough to grab a win at Stamford Bridge. Raheem Sterling won the penalty kick after his quick feet drew a foul from Issa Diop, and the summer signing from Manchester City made no mistake from the spot.
The win takes Chelsea to eighth in the league with 31 points from 21 matches and solidifies their bid to compete for a European spot. However, Chilwell believes the team, who have spent over £1 billion on transfers under new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, can use leaders.
The Blues have, on average, have fielded the youngest XI of any team in the league this season. This is largely due to Chelsea's policy of signing young players in bulk under new ownership and shipping out some veteran stars such as Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy.
Conor Gallagher, 23, is the team's current captain, and he hadn't played a single senior game for Chelsea before August 2022. Speaking after the game, Chilwell, who returned from injury after three months on the sidelines, told TNT Sports (h/t Express):
"We're a very young team. We just need a bit more leadership. Personally I want to take on that role and help the team out in that respect. Energy, getting forward when I can while defensively being solid. It's a very talented squad so we're going to get there, hopefully we can flick the switch soon."
Chilwell, 27, is the third oldest outfield player in the Chelsea squad after Thiago Silva (39) and Sterling (29). A hamstring injury kept him out of action since September but he will hope to regain his pace in Mauricio Pochettino's starting XI after a 13-minute cameo against Fulham.
A brief look at the numbers in Chelsea's win against Fulham
Chelsea's goal-scoring woes continued. Even though they did enough to win the game, they were unable to score more than once despite 17 attempts on goal.
Just three of those shots found the target, as compared to Fulham's four out of 14 attempts. Only West Ham United (33) have scored fewer goals in the Premier League than Chelsea (35) during the current campaign.
However, the Blues recorded a much better xG (2.08 as compared to Fulham's 0.94) and managed to create two big chances. The hosts also kept 55% of the ball and found the target with 84% of their 519 attempted passes. Fulham, in comparison, recorded a 78% success rate from their 414 passes.
This was also Chelsea's second Premier League clean sheet since their 2-0 win against the same opposition on 2 October 2023.