By OkayGoal
We’re now seven games into Xabi Alonso’s reign as Chelsea boss, and are coming to the end of the three week international break which feels like a mini reset for the season.
It’s a natural moment to have a look at the squad as we approach the second phase of the season: who’s doing well, and who is not.
Top of the list of “doing well” are our attackers. You can put them in almost any order you want, they’ve all done great. There was a lot of excitement about the Cole Palmer – Morgan Rogers – Joao Pedro front three’s potential, and usually in football things don’t work out like they do on paper. But in this case, it’s all gone to plan.
New addition Rogers has slotted in right away, and despite the pressure of a massive £117m transfer fee he’s hit the ground running.
In fact, if you were going to bet on a top scorer at a Norwegian bookie like Betsjekk.com, Rogers would be a good shout. He doesn’t have the advantage of playing up front like Joao Pedro, and he’s not on penalties like Cole Palmer – but that only improves his odds.
As we’ve seen on multiple occasions this season already, both for England and Chelsea, he’s got a great knack of being in the right place at the right time to find the net. That was clear from his first game at Stamford Bridge back in August, where he scored after just 9 minutes in a friendly against Real Sociedad. It was a tap in – but proof that he’s great at sniffing out those easy chances.
His goal a couple of weeks later against Arsenal was another great example. It wasn’t the most impressive goal to look at, but the technique to hit the dropping ball was superb, and the instincts to know that he could catch out David Raya by shooting first time through a crowd of players is another intangible quality that’s going to add up to a lot of goals for the former Aston Villa man if his attacking teammates can stay fit.
Rogers has three goals and an assist through the first 5 league games of the season, meaning he’s on course to score more than 20 this season in the league alone. It’s a big ask, but this team look capable of racking up some serious goals this season, so it’s very much on the cards.