Every football fan says the same thing every year – you can’t read too much into friendlies.
At Chelsea alone, we’ve seen seasons where things went horribly wrong after a really positive set of results in the summer. We’ve also won titles after looking totally bedraggled in our warmup games.
But despite the fact that this is public wisdom, it’s hard to not fall into the same trap time and again. At this point, there’s no other evidence of how the team is looking beyond those games, so that faulty evidence is the best you can get.
Chelsea’s summer so far has seen an ever increasing swell of confidence, with impressive showings from individuals in friendlies contributing to that.
Stars like Joao Pedro have come back and looked ready to pick up where they left off last season. New signings like Marco Palestra look ready to contribute right away. Injured stars like Estevao appear to be back to their best. There’s a big, upward-pointing green arrow next to Chelsea right now. So what if Xabi Alonso’s side lost to Juventus, to ten man Tottenham, and conceded four against Western City Wanderers? Everything is looking positive. Even fans online are hopeful about our prospects, and that’s not something we say very often.
Most fast withdrawal betting sites are seeing the same thing – the odds of Chelsea making the top four next season started pretty long back in May on the back of disaster campaign. The appointment of Xabi Alonso did wonders to bring them in a little, and each subsequent piece of transfer news since has seen the Blues tick ever shorter.
The friendly results so far haven’t moved the needle too much (the bookies know better than anyone not to consider the results too closely), but the general air of positivity around is clearly improving sentiment around Chelsea this season.
Nothing will be a bigger factor than the lack of European football. Time and again in the Premier League we’ve seen sides catapulted back into the Champions League places because they’re playing just one game a week. With a top coach in place and some smart transfer work, Chelsea could soon be next on that list.
The season starts on the 24th of August against Fulham, and some more impressive transfer work combined with a couple of friendly wins when the full squad is together at last should see the Blues’ odds for a successful season reach record lows.
