Neil Humphreys: Forgotten Chelsea flourish in shadows
Tuchel's men overperform with imbalanced squad
The Blues are basking in the shadows of others. They feel like forgotten title challengers, progressing in three competitions with little fanfare.
Of course, Chelsea get name-checked in every pundit's discussion on their three favourites for silverware this season and then fall back into line, behind more pressing concerns.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's ticking time bomb, Mohamed Salah's elevation to an otherworldly freak, Manchester City's habit of turning football matches into art classes and Newcastle United's penchant for a public relations nightmare are all turning heads (and stomachs in the Magpies' case).
But the other one, the one sitting pretty at the top of the English Premier League, the one through to the quarter-finals of the League Cup and tidily placed in the Champions League, progresses beneath the radar.
Maybe it's understandable. Thomas Tuchel's methodical approach to shaping well-drilled winners out of Frank Lampard's wide-eyed youngsters isn't a soap opera to rival the comedy at Old Trafford. Nor is the football as gorgeous as the cerebral fare at the Etihad.
Indeed, Chelsea needed penalties after a drab 1-1 draw against Southampton to progress in the League Cup yesterday morning (Singapore time).
But the details are worthy of examination, if only to highlight Tuchel's work. A mediocre game provided another example of the manager having an excellent first XI still in search of a balanced squad.
That's not a revelatory statement. Tuchel succeeded Lampard only in January. He's had nine months to build a title-challenging squad and still snagged the Champions League.
And his work in progress has lost a £97.5m (S$180.4m) investment for a bit. Romelu Lukaku is still injured, along with fellow forward Timo Werner. Take out Christian Pulisic and Chelsea's attacking spine appears effectively shattered.
Without those three, the Blues scored seven against Norwich City last Saturday and knocked Southampton out of the League Cup yesterday morning.
FAILED TO SCORE
For context, Solskjaer had a full attacking complement against Liverpool and a forward line worth hundreds of millions. United failed to score.
The Blues are without their first- and second-choice strikers, a No. 10 and their talismanic anchorman in N'Golo Kante and have still outscored everyone in the EPL except Liverpool, who continue to draw focus away from Stamford Bridge - much to Tuchel's pleasure, one suspects.
The Chelsea manager can go to work on salvaging an exasperating talent. He has coaxed two effective performances from Callum Hudson-Odoi in consecutive games. Only another 248 to go. Tuchel has little time for the hype that surrounds young EPL footballers, particularly English footballers. Potential bores him.
He wants 250 good games from Hudson-Odoi. He's no longer interested in teasing glimpses of one of the most gifted footballers of his generation. He expects regular pedigree, even from bit-parts.
Against Southampton, Kai Havertz led the line and scored the winner, revealing a dogged physicality that had been lacking previously. Saul Niguez also impressed in central midfield.
Even the less successful experiments reaffirmed Tuchel's credentials, demonstrating yet again that he's producing remarkable consistency from an imbalanced squad.
Hakim Ziyech toiled. Ross Barkley showed why his playing future may be elsewhere and Malang Sarr had a difficult night in defence.
Chelsea's inherent limitations were laid bare and yet they prevailed, albeit through the lottery of a penalty shoot-out, but there's still a sense of overachievement, even now.
Luckily, next month offers a number of relatively benign domestic fixtures, which may prove a handy buffer as Chelsea wait on the return of Lukaku, Werner, Pulisic and Kante.
In the meantime, United's prospective managerial merry-go-round should hold our attention like a comical plate-spinning act as City and Liverpool divide the remaining headlines between them.
And Tuchel will go about his business of overcoming obstacles without United's hysteria, winning games without City's pressure and leading the table without Liverpool's spotlight.
He probably wouldn't want it any other way.
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