Chelsea’s shaky start and reliance on Cole Palmer: A wake-up call for Maresca

Chelsea looked very shaky in the opening 45 minutes against Arsenal.

There were several calamities at the back – mainly involving Robert Sanchez – which the Blues were fortunate to escape from unpunished, although a header from Mikel Merino put Arsenal in control in the 20th minute.

Incidentally, the 20th minute also signalled the breaking of a record for Chelsea under Enzo Maresca – albeit an unwanted one.

Worryingly for the Italian, his Chelsea side did not even manage to register a TOUCH inside Arsenal’s box within the opening 20 minutes at the Emirates Stadium.

Not since May 2023 have the Blues shown such extreme timidness in attack, which, coincidentally, came during a 3-1 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

With attacking talents such as Pedro Neto, Jadon Sancho, Christopher Nkunku and Enzo Fernandez in the frontline, that will surely worry Maresca, and also potentially make the 45-year-old feel his side are too reliant on Cole Palmer to make them tick.

There was little sign of improvement in the second half too – suggesting the Blues may well be becoming too reliant on Palmer.

Their hopes of winning this match were dealt a big blow when news broke of Palmer's absence.

Chelsea have scored 53 goals in the Premier League this season and 20 of those have been scored or assisted by Palmer (38%).

The 22-year-old is not in his best form for Chelsea and has not scored for seven games, but his quality and threat was missed.

Manager Enzo Maresca continued with Pedro Neto as his central striker in the absence of Jackson, but he was comfortably dealt with by an organised and excellent Arsenal backline.

Chelsea have progressed this season under Maresca and are going to be in the running for the Champions League places at the end of the season, but they need to take more risk in the final third if they are going to secure that place.

The Blues are now winless in their past seven away league games and have lost the past four on the road.