Out of form Chelsea strikers could hinder title aspirations

Samuel Eto’o

Chelsea started the 2013/14 season as the firm favourites to win the Premier League title. Fast forward six matches into the season and Chelsea are fifth in the table. Of course, it is too early to be looking into league positions, but we can look at the Premier League goal scoring charts. After sending Romelu Lukaku on loan to Everton, Chelsea have three strikers (Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto’o, and Demba Ba) at the disposal of Jose Mourinho.

You will not be able to spot them on the Premier League top scorers table since they are yet to score in the league. Torres has clocked 233 minutes, Eto’o has played 154 minutes, and Ba has been on the pitch for 65 minutes; that makes it a total of 452 minutes and NO goals.

For a club with title winning aspirations, that is really poor. Some would say that it does not matter as long as the goals are coming from other players. Looking back at the last six seasons in the Premier League, though, reveals a different story.

Teams that have had a top scorer in the ranks have gone on to win in four out of the six seasons. This season appears to be no different since the team leading the table now (Arsenal) have a striker (Olivier Giroud) who sits second in the goal scoring table. Aguero and Rooney fly the flag for City and United respectively.

Of course, you can say that strikers need not score goals as long as they create space for the other players. In theory, this should mean that Chelsea should not have had any trouble with regard to goalscoring.

In the six matches, we have scored just seven goals; that is an average of just 1.16 goals per game. Even under Rafa Benitez, we managed 1.9 goals per league match. It feels great to have seen the team score four goals against Steaua Bucharest, but it is about time they translate that form into the league.

Midfielders scoring regularly is the sign of a good team, while goals from defenders is a huge bonus. Goals from strikers? Well, they are a must. Torres would be unavailable for the Norwich match. Let’s hope either Eto’o or Ba can finally break the duck.