Chelsea continued their push for the Premier League title with a 2-1 victory over Brentford at Stamford Bridge on Sunday night.
Targets from Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson ensured that Chelsea moved to inside two factors of leaders Liverpool and gave the Blues a fifth consecutive league victory.
Chelsea dominated the sport in all departments, enjoying with actual fluidity and created 26 goal attempts with eight of these testing Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
Full-back Cucurella impressed within the match, getting on the scoresheet himself and being a continuing risk down the hosts’ left-hand aspect regardless of a late sending-off.
Nonetheless, it’s the full-back on the right-hand aspect of Chelsea’s defence that’s attracting curiosity from fellow title rivals.
Chelsea star catching the attention of Liverpool
Malo Gusto arrived at Chelsea from Lyon in January 2023 for a reported £30.75m deal. The French defender has impressed since his arrival and has already made 13 appearances for the club this season, registering an assist in Chelsea’s 5-1 rout of Southampton earlier in December.
This positive early-season type from Gusto has attracted curiosity from quite a lot of prime golf equipment and plainly one title rival specifically are able to agency up their curiosity in January.
In accordance with CaughtOffside, Liverpool are considering a raid of the full-back to exchange the doubtless outgoing Trent Alexander-Arnold. England full-back Alexander-Arnold is out of contract in the summertime and is being linked with a transfer to European giants Actual Madrid and Premier League champions Manchester Metropolis.
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For now, plainly Chelsea have little interest in promoting Gusto, who has proved himself to be a positive younger expertise at Enzo Maresca’s disposal, however that will not deter Liverpool from testing the waters within the upcoming window.
Shedding Gusto would come as an enormous blow to Chelsea’s title hopes as they might be shedding an everyday first-team defender to the workforce they’re chasing and sit simply two factors behind.
Let’s simply hope it would not find yourself being a Mo Salah repeat, with the Egyptian leaving Stamford Bridge behind after simply 19 first-team video games earlier than happening to score 227 times in the red of Liverpool.
Why shedding Malo Gusto can be a mistake for Chelsea
Ought to Chelsea lose Gusto to Liverpool, it would not be the primary time they’ve regretted shedding a participant to Liverpool, with Salah, currently the Premier League top scorer, additionally plying his commerce at Stamford Bridge as soon as upon a time.
One more reason Chelsea followers will probably be hoping the switch would not formulate is the damage report of potential Gusto substitute Reece James. James is the membership captain of Chelsea however has suffered terribly with health all through his profession.
Extremely, because the begin of the 23/24 season, James has missed 56 games for Chelsea via damage and is at present out of motion with a hamstring damage.
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The defender has endured a torrid few seasons at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea followers used to dread information of their captain choosing up accidents as he was an necessary participant for the membership but since Gusto’s arrival he has greater than develop into an satisfactory substitute.
|
Malo Gusto v Reece James in 2024/25 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stat (per 90) |
Gusto |
James |
|
Minutes performed |
956 |
241 |
|
Progressive passes |
5.47 |
2.96 |
|
Tackles gained |
19 |
2 |
|
Blocks |
18 |
4 |
|
Crosses |
30 |
15 |
|
Factors per match |
1.92 |
1.25 |
|
Stats through FBref |
||
From the above statistics, it’s clear that not solely is the French defender extra dependable by way of health than James but additionally provides extra going ahead and in defence. Gusto has registered more progressive passes than his captain this season and has fed extra crosses to Chelsea’s potent strikeforce.
A move is taken into account progressive if the gap between the place to begin and the subsequent contact is at the least 10 meters nearer to the opponent’s aim or any accomplished move into the penalty space.
Defensively, Gusto can be outperforming his positional rival with more tackles won and extra blocks in defensive conditions. Probably the most vital stat for Chelsea workers and followers could be the backside stat that Chelsea are choosing up extra factors with Gusto within the workforce than James.
If the west London aspect are severe about their title tilt this season, then they’ll unwell afford to lose a expertise like this – particularly to their major title rivals.
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Chelsea sealed a cushty victory over Brentford on Sunday night.
