Can Chelsea come back onto the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) radar after their worst league finish in 29 years?

That’s what many of us are wondering ahead of 2023/24, as Mauricio Pochettino prepares to take a much-trimmed squad into the new campaign.

The Blues are the latest team to be profiled ahead of Gameweek 1 as we preview all 20 Premier League sides.

Chelsea’s horror show of a 2022/23 campaign is dissected in gruesome detail here.

Opta player and team data in this article comes from our Premium Members Area – along with essential tools like a transfer planner, Season Ticker and points projections, it’s one of the benefits you’ll get with a discounted pre-season subscription.

CHELSEA: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

A clean slate and a lack of European involvement.

It’s a fresh start for the Blues with a(nother) new manager at the helm, one who has had a full pre-season with his new charges.

A lot of the deadwood has gone, too, a bloated, recklessly assembled squad now mostly stripped of the past-it club servants and the mercenaries.

The Premier League will be the primary focus, with none of the distractions of European club competition. While free midweeks are not something the Chelsea board and shareholders want, fewer fatigued players and reduced rotation are attractive to us Fantasy managers.

The last time Chelsea failed to qualify for Europe, when finishing 10th in 2015/16, they won the league in the following campaign…

CHELSEA: REASONS TO BE FEARFUL

The top-to-bottom overhaul brings with it renewed optimism but also a heck of a lot of uncertainty.

There’s a lot of weight being placed on the shoulders of forwards Christopher Nkunku (£7.5m) and Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m), who are new to the Premier League, to solve the chronic goal shortage of 2022/23.

And while the summer purge has freshened up a stagnant squad, there are also areas of the team – particularly central and attacking midfield – that feel very understaffed. Messrs Kante, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Havertz and Zakaria have all departed over the summer and while Chelsea are clearly trying to add to their ranks, we’re currently looking at Conor Gallagher (£5.5m) and Carney Chukwuemeka (£4.5m) starting in Gameweek 1.

SUMMER TRANSFER ACTIVITY

There have been two main incomings, with the capture of young forwards Nkunku and Jackson for a combined £84m.

We’ve profiled both of them in detail in Scout Reports here:

A trio of teenage ‘ones for the future’, left-winger Diego Moreira, right-winger Angelo Gabriel (£5.0m) and defensive midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu have also arrived. Only Gabriel is expected to be around the first-team picture in 2023/24 but even then, not as a regular starter.

We’re into double figures for departures. As well as the midfielders mentioned earlier, old stagers like Cesar Azpilicueta and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have exited and walking Championship Manager ‘UNH’ icons, Christian Pulisic, Edouard Mendy and Kalibou Koulibaly, are now at new clubs.

PRE-SEASON REPORT

Barring a Cobham-shaped surprise (Chelsea have arranged late training-ground friendlies in the past), the Blues were the first Premier League team to complete their pre-season programme.

Pochettino’s side were one of the clubs involved in the stateside Summer Series, securing two wins and a draw from fixtures against Brighton and Hove Albion, Fulham and Newcastle United.

In fact, all of their warm-up games have been across the pond – matches against Wrexham and Borussia Dortmund bookending the trip.

Nkunku and Jackson have eight goal contributions between them in an encouraging beginning to their Blues careers.

Nkunku’s versatility has been in evidence with him appearing in pretty much every position across the frontline. Jackson, by contrast, has been used exclusively up top.

It’s not just Chukwuemeka and Gallagher who have featured prominently in this fresh-faced Chelsea reboot but the likes of Ian Maatsen (£5.5m) and Levi Colwill (£4.5m), too. Maatsen, a left-back by trade, has mostly been used in attacking midfield positions this summer.

Ben Chilwell (£5.5m) and Reece James (£5.5m) have both been given license to attack in lop-sided set-ups but didn’t play together until the Dortmund draw, with Chilwell looking the more dangerous of the two.

OPENING FIXTURES

It’s not just the clear-out and new manager that has sparked a revival in Chelsea interest in FPL: it’s the fixtures.

The Season Ticker is a sea of blue from Gameweeks 2-8 and, judging by Wednesday’s seven-goal epic in Singapore, Liverpool’s defence looks as ramshackle as it did in 2022/23.

Gameweek 2 might not be straightforward, with the Blues only tasting victory once in their last six visits to West Ham United.

But then there are back-to-back home matches against early relegation favourites Luton Town and travel-sick Nottingham Forest in Gameweeks 3 and 4, with trips to Bournemouth, Fulham and Burnley to come before the second international break.

Gameweek 6 opponents Aston Villa are no pushovers under Unai Emery but the Villans will have just played their first UEFA Europa Conference League group-stage game when they visit Stamford Bridge three days later.

PREDICTED GAMEWEEK 1 LINE-UP

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