Raheem Sterling playing for Chelsea against West Ham at the weekend. — Raheem Sterling was Chelsea’s best player against West Ham at the weekend. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Chelsea have started the season poorly but Sterling’s form offers hope

This article is more than 8 months old

Chelsea need experience, creativity and goals to ignite their season – and the forward could be the man to do it

Given the number of incomings and outgoings at Chelsea over the last year, Raheem Sterling has become something of a forgotten man at Stamford Bridge. The 28-year-old only signed from Manchester City last summer but already feels like an old timer. Sterling, the first signing under the new owners, made his Chelsea debut last August in a 1-0 win against Everton. Just three of his 10 teammates from that game are still at the club: Thiago Silva, Reece James and Ben Chilwell.

Sterling had a disappointing first season at Chelsea, scoring just six times and providing three assists in the league. It’s no wonder he struggled given the spate of new additions, the increasingly bloated squad and the managerial upheaval at the club – he played under four different head coaches. Few players, if any, covered themselves in any real glory as Chelsea laboured to a 12th-placed finish and scored just 38 league goals – one per game, a scoring rate beaten by Erling Haaland. Even relegated pair Leicester and Leeds scored more.

Mauricio Pochettino’s appointment this summer was welcomed by supporters, despite his Tottenham links, and the hope is that he will bring some much-needed stability and kickstart a new era at the club. It will take time for Chelsea to settle after a tumultuous 12 months, as Pochettino is already discovering. The team has started this season the way they ended last season: unable to put the ball in the net.

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Chelsea have scored just two goals in their opening two league matches and they have come from the centre-back Axel Disasi and the midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka, who is now out for six weeks with a knee injury. The attacking players need to start pulling their weight, and quickly, if Chelsea are to make a sustained push for a European finish.

However, in the hubbub of yet another disappointing performance at the weekend, Sterling stood out. As soon as West Ham took an early lead through Nayef Aguerd, Sterling began to take the game to the Hammers. He took the initiative and completed more dribbles (six) than any other player on the pitch. Even though his efforts were in vain – Chelsea ultimately succumbed to a 3-1 defeat – Sterling’s performance was a bright spot. The team will need him this season.

For all their players, Chelsea are struggling to find fit and in form players. Summer signing Christopher Nkunku has been ruled out for a few months. Chukwuemeka is set for a spell on the sidelines. And, with their new captain James also out, the physio room is filling up quickly.

The players who are fit are not scoring. Noni Madueke has not completed 90 minutes in the league since he joined for £30m in January and Mykhailo Mudryk has not had the desired impact since his £50m move. He has made 17 appearances in the league, failed to score in any of them and has only been on the winning team twice. The less said about his attempts to score against West Ham the better.

All of this means there is a greater onus on Sterling to shoulder the attacking burden. This is one of the reasons Chelsea signed him a year ago. Before he joined Chelsea he had reached double figures for goals for nine straight seasons. He broke the 30-goal mark for Manchester City in the 2019-20 season – no Chelsea player has done that since Didier Drogba.

Raheem Sterling scored 31 goals for Manchester City in the 2019-20 season. Photograph: Matt McNulty/Manchester City/Manchester City FC/Getty Images

Sterling has the experience, winning mentality and determination this young team needs. He kept showing for the ball against West Ham on Sunday and he kept running at their backline, even when other heads dropped. Not only did he grab the game by the scruff of the neck, but he did so in a more central role than usual.

When Pochettino took over, many expected him to use his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. He may revert to that system once Moisés Caicedo comes into the team but he has deployed a 3-4-2-1 setup in the opening two games of the campaign, with Sterling starting behind striker Nicolas Jackson. Even in a more central, condensed area of the pitch, Sterling is still able to ghost past opponents, open angles and create for teammates.

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Sterling could do the same in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Chelsea remain in the market for a right winger, having missed out on Michael Olise. They have been linked with the Lyon player Bradley Barcola, Brennan Johnson of Nottingham Forest and the Ajax winger Mohammed Kudus. If a new right winger arrives, Sterling could start in the No 10 role behind Jackson.

His performances so far this season bode well and this is a role he knows. Sterling excelled as a No 10 for Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers in the 2013-14 season. He often played a creative role behind Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge, and they finished as the top two goalscorers in the league that season, hitting 52 goals between them.

It’s been a year to forget for Chelsea but Sterling’s performances – particularly at West Ham – offer cause for optimism. Having become something of a forgotten man, the England forward could be the player who drags Chelsea out of the mire.