Chelsea face huge midfield concern ahead of Arsenal showdown after transfer gamble | Football

You could have made a case for Chelsea having one of the best transfer windows of the summer five days ago. But a frustrating deadline day may have left Xabi Alonso short.  

A reset of sorts in west London followed by two bright performances in the opening matches of the new Premier League season heightened the optimism brewing at Stamford Bridge – even sparking a bit of title talk.

As luck would have it, Chelsea visit the champions on Sunday where those early season title credentials will be placed under the microscope against Arsenal at the Emirates.

There will be a big Enzo-Fernandez-shaped hole in the Blues midfield this season. But while his exit hardly came out of the blue, filling the void could be a problem.

Chelsea looked to Monaco star Lamine Camara to do just that with a £47million transfer all set to be signed, sealed and delivered on the final day of business on Tuesday. Nothing is certain as far as deadline day is concerned however with the move collapsing dramatically at the eleventh hour.

There was talk of bids for Manu Kone, Alex Scott and Martin Zubimendi among others but in the end, no one else came through the door.

With no European football on the menu this season, Chelsea should be able to operate with a tighter squad. But no replacement for Fernandez is a concern.

Moises Caicedo remains one of the best midfielders in the league, central to everything the club hope to achieve this season. But what happens when the Ecuador international isn’t fit?

The 24-year-old was ruled out of the season-opener against Fulham, coming off the bench as his side clung on against Brighton on Sunday. He lasted just 11 minutes with a fresh injury blow sparking concern, looking visibly upset as he left the pitch.

Romeo Lavia impressed against Fulham but the Belgian’s time in the capital has been wrecked by hamstring and muscle issues. Since arriving from Southampton for £53million in the summer of 2023, he has been limited to just 17 starting appearances in the Premier League – failing to last the full 90 minutes in all of them. While there is still huge promise in the 22-year-old, whether he is robust enough to last the course remains to be seen.

Reece James has transformed into a fine option in midfield but his own injury history cannot be overlooked. Valentin Barco will harbour hopes of replacing some of the qualities his countryman Fernandez had in Chelsea blue but he is untested in England. Don’t forget Jordan Henderson, recruited to provide experience and leadership in the young dressing room but as a midfield option, he is back-up at best.

Chelsea’s reported interest in signing Georginio Wijnaldum – a free agent at 35 having spent the last three years in Saudi Arabia – is perhaps a measure of Chelsea’s need for more bodies.

James and Lavia started in the middle against Fulham with Malo Gusto partnering the Belgian against Brighton. As electric as Chelsea were in that first-half against the Seagulls, it is little wonder their grip on the game slipped. Right-backs moving into midfield is a positional evolution plenty of managers have experimented with, but former Blues midfielder Gus Poyet has warned it cannot be looked at as a permanent solution this season.

‘Any right-back becoming a good central midfielder? No chance,’ Poyet told Metro. ‘Because full-backs naturally get used to playing with the line next to them, either on their right side or their left. Nobody’s coming at them from that side, because you’ve got the line.

‘When you play in the middle, players come at you from everywhere, and not every player is the same.

‘So yes, for one game [they can play there].Yes, for twenty minutes. Not constantly. And now we see Chelsea playing a right-back as a central midfielder every game. This is Chelsea — we’re not talking about a fourth-division club with no possibility of bringing in a player. I don’t think it’s ideal.’

The partnership of Fernandez and Caicedo was one equipped to do battle with the Gunners last season with the Blues hoping the Ecuadorian will be fit for Sunday’s visit to the Emirates.

James meanwhile shone in midfield when Chelsea hosted Arsenal at Stamford Bridge last November – the same game where Caicedo was sent off after 38 minutes. There were other stand-out displays in the middle for the captain that season too but Chelsea’s record with James starting in midfield last term was just five wins in 15 games across all competitions.

Arsenal bolstered their already formidable midfield with Bruno Guiamares in the summer with Chelsea’s notably weakening. It’s still early doors of course, but Sunday might provide us with all the answers we need over Chelsea’s title aspirations.

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