Chelsea must build on Club World Cup glory to thrive in new Premier League campaign | OneFootball

The Blues have played well in pre-season, but Enzo Maresca is again begging supporters to temper their expectations

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Malik Ouzia

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The message from Enzo Maresca was clear: don’t think we’ve done anything yet, because we haven’t.

Maresca rather burst that bubble, though, urging caution against reading too much into those games.

While that is not strictly true — they are real games — the Italian’s point stands. Chelsea are in a good place after winning the Conference League, becoming world champions, and looking so exciting pre-season, but they cannot cash that in as exchange for Premier League points.

Maresca is right to urge caution against talking as though the season is already going well. His team looked like Premier League title contenders until as late as December last season, and if he believes what he keeps saying — that Chelsea are a better team now than they were then — the proof will be in the pudding: in hitting the ground running and putting together a strong string of results.

World champions: Chelsea will hope to build on their summer successes

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The additions of impressive signings such as Joao Pedro, who looks at home already, and Jamie Gittens mean Chelsea’s squad looks in greater shape than it did a year ago. Liam Delap and Estevao Willian have also made promising starts to life at Stamford Bridge.

There are other reasons to be positive about how Chelsea could fare this season, which begins with the visit of Crystal Palace on Sunday. Chiefly, a youthful squad is another year older, another year more experienced. Those who are not newbies know precisely what Maresca wants from them and how to compete at the highest level. They are, after all, world champions now.

The manager is also clearer in his ideals, and more certain of who he wants to play where and how. He spoke in his press conference on Friday in great detail about why a new centre-back is needed, and why those currently available to him will not suit the role that now needs filling following Levi Colwill’s serious knee injury.

A youthful squad is another year older, another year more experienced.

New signings in attack should help relieve the burden that Cole Palmer felt in attack for much of last term. His goal drought between January and May was not compensated for by others, and never felt likely to be. Perhaps this season the load will be more fairly shared.

Chelsea must be wary, though, not only of the increased threat from the free-spending champions Liverpool, three-time runners-up hellbent on winning one (Arsenal) and a rejuvenated Manchester City, but also of their own limitations.

Theirs has been the shortest pre-season campaign of any of the 20 Premier League clubs, their preparations for the new season operating on a totally delayed timescale due to their success in the Club World Cup.

It is a season that offers more promise than any prior campaign under the Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly ownership. What started as a barmy project is now paying dividends.

If they can start well, keep up, avoid burnout, and get better as the campaign unravels, this has the makings of a very fine season indeed for Chelsea.