Chesleadaft explains how the Blues became the contenders for the Premier League title this season – and it is all down to their passing game.
The question
Maurizio Sarri’s first action in London was to sign Jorginho from his former club Napoli for a fee of around £57 million. This was a tip in itself to the importance he is to the philosophy of Sarri’s attacking game. The question now arises – are Chelsea passing themselves into contention?
Stats that back it up
The answer to this is yes. After just seven games into the season there are four Chelsea players sitting in the top six of the league for the most passes made. As expected it is Jorginho who sits clear at the top with 762 passes as he continues to control each game.
86 – Jorginho completed 86 passes out of a possible 92 in the first half (93.5%), 19 more than the whole Newcastle side combined (67). Circles. pic.twitter.com/3SxjTyVTxE
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 26, 2018
It is then the three Chelsea defenders, Antonio Rudiger, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta in third, fifth and six respectively having just over 1600 passes between them, which shows that Chelsea are playing patiently and attacking from the back line, which is enabling their attacking players to create more space.
Conclusion
This style of play has made a big impact on Chelsea and has been the primary reason that they sit at the top of the table not only challenging for the top four but the title itself. Looking at the football bets today, there are many punters supporting them as an outsider for title success, with Betfair making them just 10/1 behind Manchester City and Liverpool who are 4/6 and 2/1 respectively.