After an improved league performance in 2023/24, European qualification, a domestic cup final and a semi, the most successful English club of the 21st century will be targeting another leap forward under a new head coach in 2024/25.

Andiamo, Enzo!

These are the first steps of Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea journey, and with Sonia Bompastor succeeding the legendary Emma Hayes on the Chelsea Women touchline, it is all change in the dugouts at Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow.

Former Leicester man Maresca is one of five new head coaches appointed by Premier League clubs for the forthcoming campaign – the others being Steve Cooper (Maresca’s replacement at Leicester), Fabian Hurzeler (Brighton), Julen Lopetegui (West Ham) and Arne Slot (Liverpool).

A journeyed former midfielder, Maresca (who never faced the Blues as a player) has a fluent grasp of English and Spanish as well as his mother tongue Italian.

Of course, there has always been a great fit between Chelsea and Italian coaches. We just seem to get each other.

Five of the new man’s fellow countrymen have steered the Blues to 11 significant men’s team honours, well over a third of the 28 major trophies in the club’s history.

Chelsea’s Italian Jobs

Gianluca Vialli (1998-00) - 53 per cent win rate, four major honours
Claudio Ranieri (2000-04) - 54 per cent win rate
Carlo Ancelotti (2009-11) - 61 per cent win rate, two major honours
Roberto Di Matteo (2012) - 57 per cent win rate, two major honours
Antonio Conte (2016-18) - 65 per cent win rate, two major honours
Maurizio Sarri (2018/19) - 62 per cent win rate, one major honour

What’s new: tactics

Even seasoned coaches who’ve spent their careers outside England’s top flight can underestimate its unique intensity, but Enzo experienced the cut and thrust himself as a player at West Bromwich and as assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

He likes aggressive, fast-paced possession with purpose and a strong positional awareness, so his players can outnumber and play through opponents in any area. In pre-season we already saw glimpses of the slick attacking moves the new system aims to produce.

As well as new coaching staff there have been a few comings and goings in the squad.

In
Tosin Adarabioyo - Fulham
Aaron Anselmino - Boca Juniors
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - Leicester City
Marc Guiu - Barcelona
Filip Jorgensen - Villarreal
Omari Kellyman - Aston Villa
Pedro Neto - Wolverhampton Wanderers
Renato Veiga - Basel
Caleb Wiley - Atlanta United

Out
Josh Brooking - Released
Chinonso Chibueze - Stoke City
Jamie Cumming - Oxford United
Michael Golding - Leicester City
Lewis Hall - Newcastle United
Noah Hay - Released
Omari Hutchinson - Ipswich Town
Ian Maatsen - Aston Villa
Dion Rankine - Wigan Athletic
Malang Sarr - Lens
Thiago Silva - Fluminense
Charlie Webster - Burton Albion
Hakim Ziyech - Galatasaray

Loan
Caleb Wiley - Strasbourg (France Ligue 1)
Andrey Santos - Strasbourg (France Ligue 1)
Alfie Gilchrist - Sheffield United (Championship)
Aaron Anselmino - Boca Juniors (Argentina Primera Division)
Eddie Beach - Crawley Town (League One)
Gaga Slonina - Barnsley (League One)
Dylan Williams - Burton Albion (League One)
Teddy Sharman-Lowe - Doncaster Rovers (League Two)
Ted Curd - Hampton & Richmond (National League South)

The task for everyone is to finish higher than last season’s sixth place, and tightening up at the back would help enormously. While the Blues were fifth-highest scorers in 2023/24, the 63 goals conceded was an historically poor Premier League showing for the club.

One key backroom arrival could be Bernardo Cueva, formerly at Brentford, a Mexican attacking and defensive set-play strategist. Over the last Premier League campaign only Liverpool (115) summoned more shots from corners and free-kicks than the Bees (102). Chelsea managed just 62.

And while the Blues conceded 92 shots from an opponent’s dead-ball delivery (fourth most in the league), Cueva’s curation helped our west London neighbours keep their tally down to 54 (the fourth fewest).

Ongoing records

Chelsea remain unbeaten in our last 29 Premier League home games against Everton (16 wins, 13 draws). It’s our longest run without defeat against an opponent at Stamford Bridge in our top-flight history, exceeding our previous record of 27 set against Tottenham between 1990 and 2016.

We remain unbeaten in March since 2019, winning 18 and drawing four since Everton beat us at Goodison Park. We’ve also not lost a home Premier League game in March since 2001, when Sunderland won 4-2 at the Bridge, 40 games ago (32 wins, seven draws).

Last season we beat Crystal Palace for a club-record 13th league game in a row in February as well as a club-record 14th consecutive victory in all competitions.

Chelsea Anniversaries for 2024/25

• 15 years since the most recent of Chelsea’s four Community Shield victories, defeating Manchester United 4-1 in a penalty shootout (9 August 2009).

• 25 years since Chelsea’s first-ever Champions League match – 44 seasons after helping launch the competition as the European Cup in 1955 – against Skonto Riga (11 August 1999).

• 60 years since Chelsea added numbers to players’ shorts, becoming the first top-flight club in England to do so (22 August 1964).

• 40 years since Chelsea returned to the top flight after a five-year absence with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal, at a Highbury packed with Blues fans (25 August 1984).

• 10 years since Chelsea set our record-highest victory in the Champions League, 6-0 at home to Maribor (21 October 2014).

• 30 years since the redeveloped North Stand (later renamed the Matthew Harding Stand) was used for the first time, for the Premier League visit of Everton (26 November 1994).

• 120 years since the infamous dog-bite episode after which Fred Parker informed the London Athletic Club that Stamford Bridge would remain a sporting arena, which led to the formation of Chelsea Football Club as the stadium’s new tenants (5 December 1904).

• 25 years since Gustavo Poyet’s hat-trick put Chelsea on our way to our biggest-ever away victory in the FA Cup, 6-1 at Hull City’s Boothferry Park (11 December 1999).

• 25 years since Chelsea switched from Harlington to the new Cobham training centre in Surrey (15 December 2004).

• 25 years since the Premier League’s last game of the 20th Century ends Chelsea 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday, Dennis Wise, Tore Andre Flo and Jody Morris with the goals (29 December 1999).

• 100 years since Chelsea officially tested football’s new offside law in a specially arranged trial match against Arsenal (31 January 1925).

• Five years since Everton were beaten 4-0 at the Bridge in what became Chelsea’s last match before the coronavirus pandemic forced the suspension of football for three and a half months (8 March 2020).

• 120 years since Chelsea Football Club was founded in a meeting upstairs at the Rising Sun public house – now called the Butcher’s Hook – across the road from Stamford Bridge (10 March 1905).

• 70 years since Chelsea became founding members of the inaugural European Cup at a meeting in Paris, only to withdraw before the competition began (2 April 1955).

• 60 years since Chelsea became the first London club to win the League Cup by beating Leicester City over a two-legged final (5 April 1965).

• 80 years since Chelsea won the Football League South Cup final at Wembley – watched by 90,000, including the future Queen Elizabeth II, who was attending her first club football match (7 April 1945).

• 50 years since 18-year-old Ray Wilkins became Chelsea’s youngest permanently appointed captain, prior to our fourth relegation from the top flight (19 April 1975).

• 60 years since the notorious ‘Blackpool incident’ in which manager Tommy Docherty sent home eight first-team players who defied his hotel curfew (22 April 1965).

• 70 years since Chelsea beat Sheffield Wednesday and won the league title for the first time, managed by Ted Drake (23 April 1955).

• 10 years since Chelsea won the Premier League for the fifth time, and completed a second league and League Cup double under Jose Mourinho (3 May 2015).

• 15 years since a record last-day scoreline of 8-0 against Wigan Athletic sealed Chelsea’s fourth league title (9 May 2010).

• 20 years since Chelsea won the title for the second time, part of our first league and League Cup double, while setting many Premier League records, including fewest goals conceded (10 May 2005).

• 15 years since Chelsea beat Portsmouth at Wembley to complete our first league and FA Cup double under Carlo Ancelotti (15 May 2010).

• 25 years since Chelsea beat Aston Villa 1-0 to lift the FA Cup for the third time (20 May 2000).