Chelsea may rue selling Eghbali’s world-class CF

Chelsea’s season is in danger of spiralling out of control.

On Saturday evening, the Blues suffered a third successive Premier League away defeat, this time beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa.

Enzo Maresca’s side have now won just two of their last ten league outings, relinquishing their place in the Champions League spots.

Out of both domestic cups too, this season, which seemingly promised so much, could ultimately be deemed a failure, with the Blues’ ongoing centre-forward crisis once again a talking point.

Chelsea’s continued striker issue

As noted by Nizaar Kinsella of BBC Sport, despite spending in excess of £1.5bn since Todd Boehly’s takeover, Chelsea are ‘threadbare’ in attack ‘with no fit strikers to call upon’.

That’s because Chelsea are enduring a striker shortage, given that Nicolas Jackson will be sidelined until April ‘due to a muscular injury’, while Marc Guiu suffered a ‘bad knee injury’ against West Ham.

Even before this, there were question marks over Chelsea’s centre-forward position, with Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports stating he believes they do not have a striker good enough to win the Premier League title.

So, for now, Christopher Nkunku is leading the line, but he certainly isn’t earning rave reviews.

Louis Sealey of the Metro described his display at Villa Park on Saturday as ‘non-existent’, while Barry Glendenning of the Guardian outlines how he spent the majority of the evening ‘gesticulating in frustration’.

Meantime, Malik Ouzia of the Evening Standard notes that he continues to be the ‘least threatening of Chelsea’s attackers’, which is far from ideal considering the Blues’ lack of alternatives.

So, given Chelsea’s ongoing search for a reliable goalscorer, do they regret allowing one to leave?

Former Chelsea striker now among the goals

Many may have actually forgotten that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was a Chelsea player not too long ago. Described as “world-class” upon his arrival at the Bridge by Behdad Eghbali, he ended up making just 21 appearances for the Blues, scoring only three goals, before quickly departing for Olympique de Marseille a year later.

During one season with les Phocéens, the Gabonese striker actually scored 30 goals in just 51 appearances, but departed OM to become the latest big-name player to move to the Saudi Pro League, joining newly-promoted outfit Al-Qadsiah.

Well, with Aubameyang spearheading their attack, Al-Qadsiah are currently third in the Saudi Pro League which, according to Hussain Almaskati of New of Bahrain, is ‘defying expectations’, with a Saudi Gazette report describing his performances as ‘sensational’.

So, let’s see how Aubameyang compares to Chelsea’s two most-used strikers: Nkunku and Jackson.

As outlined in the table, it’s actually Nkunku who boasts the best statistics, but this must be caveated.

The Frenchman has scored 13 goals this season, but only two have come in the Premier League, on target seven times in the Conference League, as well as bagging a hat-trick against Barrow in the EFL Cup.

Of course, Aubameyang is plying his trade in the Saudi Pro League which, according to Global Football Rankings, is the 31st best league in the world, while the Premier League is top of these rankings, which provides some perspective.

Nevertheless, the fact the 35-year-old has missed fewer Opta defined big chances than both Nkunku and Jackson this season suggests he could have helped the Blues had he stayed.