Maresca must drop 4/10 Chelsea flop who’s the new Havertz

Chelsea were dealt a sobering Premier League defeat by Ipswich Town as they bowed out of 2024. It’s frustrating that the Blues have petered out at Christmas but Enzo Maresca has restored the optimism in west London.

At the season’s midpoint, Chelsea occupy fourth place and sit three points clear of in-form Newcastle United, but Maresca will harbour no doubts regarding the pressing need for further improvements to avoid stagnancy and promote progress.

Barring Joao Felix’s ruled-out equaliser in the first half, Chelsea had no riposte as the newly promoted Tractor Boys claimed their first home victory in the Premier League since 2002.

There is plenty to build upon for Chelsea, but the foundations for future title challenges are there. That said, with Liverpool ten points clear and with a game in hand, mounting a consistent charge toward the title might prove out of reach.

Improvements are needed in several spaces across the field, but defence has got to be one of the first ports of call – especially with Axel Disasi continuing to flatter to deceive.

An Axel Disasi disaster

Disasi was picked as Chelsea’s right-back at Portman Road but failed to prove that Maresca’s pick was justified, with an erroneous and altogether unconvincing display leaving everything to be desired.

As per Sofascore, the French defender lost 75% of his duels, was dribbled past twice and indeed made a costly mistake that allowed Omari Hutchinson, a Cobham youth graduate, to condemn his former club to a successive Premier League defeat.

Maresca isn’t blameless: the Italian tactician opted against a natural right-back in favour of Disasi in the makeshift role. In fairness, Disasi has played there 19 times since signing for Chelsea in 2023, but you can’t help but feel that Malo Gusto would have been the better pick.

He was hung out to dry in a sense, with Chelsea’s frontal players putting in a flat and insipid performance. Save for Cole Palmer’s efforts, there was little to write home about, with Christopher Nkunku putting in a terrible display at number nine – a display that was perhaps just as bad as Disasi’s at the other end.

Christopher Nkunku’s performance vs Ipswich

Nkunku must be frustrated with his time at Chelsea thus far. The France international was injured for the lion’s share of 2023/24, his maiden year, featuring 14 times across all competitions and scoring three goals.

This season, he’s scored 12 goals from 27 appearances in all competitions but only two in the English top flight, with just three starting berths handed to him.

There’s a solid argument that he still hasn’t showcased his best position in a Chelsea shirt, endowed with technical quality and silkiness but perhaps lacking the physicality and confidence that a centre-forward needs in the Premier League.

This was proven at Ipswich, with his opposite number, Liam Delap, putting in a performance for the ages as he took home a goal and an assist. How curious that Chelsea are understood to be perusing the market for a new striker to complement Nicolas Jackson, and that Delap is on the shortlist.

Nkunku might have seen more of the ball than his counterpart, creating two key passes and keeping it crisp in possession, but it’s extremely hard to say that he showed that innate ruthlessness that is intrinsic in a first-rate striker’s veins.

Ipswich 2-0 Chelsea: Liam Delap vs Christopher Nkunku
Match Stats	Delap	Nkunku
Minutes played	89′	65′
Goals	1	0
Assists	1	0
Touches	33	33
Shots (on target)	5 (4)	1 (1)
Pass accuracy	4/8 (50%)	23/24 (96%)
Key passes	1	2
Dribbles (completed)	2 (1)	1 (0)
Total duels (won)	13 (7)	8 (2)
Stats via Sofascore

In fact, the Standard’s Malik Ouzia could only hand the 27-year-old – who failed to turn in Palmer’s free-kick early on – a 4/10 match rating, criticising his quiet and ‘ineffective’ showing.

It’s a shame that he hasn’t hit his stride, with his lack of positional security drawing parallels with former Blues striker Kai Havertz – might he be the new version of the German?

Nkunku is the new Kai Havertz

Havertz scored a Champions League-winning goal for Chelsea, somewhat validating his £71m transfer from Bayer Leverkusen despite only scoring 32 goals across 139 outings in total.

So gifted, so intelligent, there’s a real player in the German international and he has been a valuable asset for Arsenal since the start of last season, but Chelsea struggled to get a tune out of his multi-positional presence and you could stake an argument for Mikel Arteta battling with the same issue.

Havertz simply didn’t score enough to prove himself worthy of the number nine spot at Stamford Bridge, and the same thing could be said for Nkunku.

Make no mistake, the French dynamo is a spectacular player capable of doing great things with the ball, but it’s becoming clear that Chelsea need to sign an out-and-out striker in 2025, and given that Jackson deserves a regular role on the pitch, Nkunku’s role might minimise into something nominal.

As per FBref, Nkunku ranks among the top 14% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for shot-creating actions, the top 15% for progressive passes, the top 1% for pass completion and the top 14% for tackles per 90. Truly, he’s got the quality to make a marked impact on Chelsea’s season.

But whether this will occur is another matter entirely. Perhaps Maresca will feel that given his attacking midfield ranks consist of Palmer, Felix and more, Nkunku just doesn’t have a lasting place in the starting line-up that will give him the kind of confidence or prominence to establish himself as a superstar in English football.

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