The five things Chelsea must fix to become Premier League title contenders

Arsenal beating Chelsea is almost a foregone conclusion these days.

For years, the Gunners were in a state of nothingness. The latter stages of Arsene Wenger’s tenure, the entirety of Unai Emery’s spell and the beginning of Mikel Arteta’s reign were all low points for every single Arsenal fan.

What’s worse is their London rivals Chelsea were arguably at the pinnacle of European football during that time. They won the Premier League title in 2014-15 and 2016-17, while they claimed their second Champions League crown under Thomas Tuchel in 2021.

Such success at Stamford Bridge feels like a lifetime ago, however, and it’s now Arsenal who are on top.

The teams have played each other four times so far this season, with the Gunners winning three and the opening fixture ending in a 1-1 draw following an early red card for Moises Caicedo.

The clash on Sunday night was narrowly edged by Arsenal and it was the perfect archetype of a Premier League game in 2025-26. Very few chances created in open play, limitless grappling at set pieces, three goals from inswinging corners and a red card for Chelsea.

Such matches suit Arsenal and while they were certainly helped by Pedro Neto’s thoughtless sending off, they won the battle of corners and that was ultimately the deciding factor.

For Chelsea, they now face an uphill challenge to secure Champions League football. After a successful start under Liam Rosenior, they have only picked up two points from their last three league matches (versus Leeds United, Burnley and Arsenal) and with an immensely difficult run-in, they are the team widely expected to miss out on Europe’s elite club competition.

Chelsea fans went into the season with a tiny ounce of hope that a title push could be on the cards following their Club World Cup triumph, but they remain a long way off as things stand.

Below, FootballTransfers runs through five things Chelsea must fix to become Premier League title contenders again.

Start beating the biggest teams again

Chelsea’s record against Arsenal and Manchester City in recent years is quite frankly abysmal. Results versus Liverpool and Manchester United are only slightly better too and it’s a real issue.

Chelsea haven’t beaten Arsenal in their last 11 meetings with the Gunners, while they have only picked up one win and four draws in 16 matches against Arteta’s side since the beginning of 2020.

The Blues also haven’t emerged victorious against Man City since their aforementioned triumph in the 2021 Champions League final. Since then, they have drawn three matches and lost nine in all competitions.

Throughout the BlueCo era, Chelsea have failed to lay a glove on either Arsenal or Man City, while they have only won two of their last 12 matches against Liverpool and three of their last 18 games versus Man Utd.

Since Chelsea last won the Premier League title in 2016-17, they have won 20, drawn 25 and lost a whopping 48 of their 93 matches against their four biggest English rivals in all competitions. To return to top spot, Rosenior must find a way to improve that record.

Make Stamford Bridge a fortress

Stamford Bridge used to be an extremely intimidating place to go, and during Enzo Maresca’s only full season in charge, Chelsea were pretty impressive at home. They picked up 42 points from 19 games, losing only twice, and it was their away form that prevented an easy route into the Champions League.

This season, it’s been the complete opposite. Chelsea have only amassed 23 points from 14 home fixtures so far this term – which is currently the 11th best record of any Premier League club.

They have also only picked up one additional point than Leeds United at home, who have the 13th best record in the division. That simply isn’t acceptable for a club wanting to challenge for major honours.

Away from home, Chelsea have picked up 22 points from 14 games – the fourth best record of any club – and if they can keep that record up, while improving their form at Stamford Bridge, Rosenior could be onto something promising.

Improve the squad’s mentality

As Gary Neville pointed out on commentary versus Arsenal, Chelsea are a nice team. They’re nice to watch and their midfielders pass the ball in tight spaces extremely well, but they lack the horrible streak that Arsenal seem to possess.

The winning mentality doesn’t quite seem to be there and they are quite frankly fairly soft. That’s far from a surprise given the height, stature and age of their starting XI, but it’s something they need to fix.

The Blues don’t even necessarily need to sign tall, physical players – although it would undoubtedly help – but Rosenior needs to install a tougher mentality in his squad.

They complain too much at refereeing decisions and they appear to lack the ability to deal with adversity particularly well. Signing an experienced head would clearly help but as this is unlikely to happen under the current ownership, Rosenior must find a way to change this himself.

Sign better attacking depth

While Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal came as a direct result of two set piece goals conceded, Chelsea’s backline will certainly improve when Levi Colwill returns to action following his anterior cruciate ligament injury, Wesley Fofana is available and Mamadou Sarr has additional Premier League experience under his belt.

In attack, however, Chelsea are sorely lacking quality. Cole Palmer has been lethargic throughout this season due to an ongoing pubalgia problem, while Alejandro Garnacho and Liam Delap have both been extremely underwhelming signings.

Neto has displayed promise on occasion, but his role should be limited to a squad player if Chelsea want to win the title, and Jamie Gittens, who is currently injured, is not yet ready for a consistent starting XI role.

Estevao Willian is expected to return to the fold soon, and he is likely to establish himself as a guaranteed starter next term, while both Geovany Quenda and Emmanuel Emegha will add quality when they arrive this summer.

However, Chelsea still need better options off the bench. The depth available to Arsenal and Man City is excellent and it’s a key reason why they are able to pick up so many points. Chelsea must follow suit, especially if Palmer is unable to get back to full fitness anytime soon.

End the disciplinary issues

Following his arrival in west London, Rosenior appeared to have fixed Chelsea’s disciplinary problems. The Blues avoided a red card in each of his first 11 matches in charge and things were looking positive.

However, their ill-discipline has now returned, with Fofana dismissed during the 1-1 draw versus Burnley and Neto sent off against Arsenal.

Nine different Chelsea players have received a red card across all competitions so far this season and they are only two away from matching the record for the most red cards in a single Premier League campaign (nine – currently held by Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers).

They are bottom of the Premier League fair-play table this term, while they finished 19th in 2024-25 and 20th in 2023-24. Their immaturity is a real problem and it’s cost them time and time again this season.

When excluding games in which Chelsea have gone down to 10 men, they have won 11, drawn seven and lost only three of their 21 matches in the Premier League this season. That’s far from a perfect record, but it’s good enough for a team wanting to at least attempt a title challenge.

By comparison, in the seven league fixtures in which they’ve received a red card, Chelsea have won just once, drawn twice and lost four times.

Eradicate the disciplinary issues that have plagued the club since BlueCo’s arrival and the league table would look far more favourable from a Chelsea perspective.

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