Is Chelsea's Youth Revolution Sustainable?

Though the English Premier League season is just over a month old, Chelsea has made for one of the season’s most interesting stories.

Yes, the same Chelsea whose offseason was clouded in pessimism due to UEFA’s transfer embargo, as well the club deciding to hand the managerial reins over to club legend Frank Lampard, after just one season in charge of Derby County in the Championship.

The Blues were also dealing with the not-so-small matter of one-time English Premier League Player of the season, and four-time Chelsea Player of the Year, Eden Hazard, deciding to take his talents to Real Madrid.

Amid so much change and turmoil at Stamford Bridge, it was easy to forget that just a few months earlier this was the same club who was lifting the Europa League trophy, as well as flying home to claim third position in the EPL which secured their 15^th season of Champions League football since 2004.

And thus Chelsea had no choice but to pin their hopes on their army of highly talented - but inexperienced - youth, and through six weeks, they’ve delivered in spades.

When the Blues were thumped 4-0 on opening day by Manchester United it indeed seemed like they were in for a mighty long season, yet they’ve since responded superbly, with last weekend’s 5-2 mauling away to Wolverhampton punctuating an ominous run of form.

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During their present four-game undefeated run in the EPL, 21-year old Tammy Abraham has found the net seven times, while 20-year old Mason Mount hasn’t missed a minute and has been Chelsea’s most instrumental player.

23-year old, Andreas Christensen, has been rock solid in the middle of Chelsea’s defence and has been recently joined by 21-year old Fikayo Timori in anchoring the Blues’ backline.

In midfield, the highly touted American, 20-year old Christian Pulisic, has flashed his precocious potential even if he's yet to find the net. He’s been assisted greatly by 25-year old's Mateo Kovacic and Ross Barkley who've continued to hold down the centre of the park in the absence of another Premier League Player of the Year in N'Golo Kante.

Despite Chelsea’s inexperience, their 16.6 shots per game is a number bettered only by Manchester City (20.4) and Liverpool (18.2), while only City and Tottenham are fairing better than Chelsea's 84.4% pass accuracy.

Even in Chelsea’s 0-2 midweek UCL loss to Valencia, its band of youth was able to produce 22 shots on goal which was a number trumped only by Bayern Munich (33) and Salzburg (26).

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One area Chelsea have however looked vulnerable in, is defence. While they are ranked #2 in the EPL for tackles per game and #3 for interceptions, they have leaked 11 goals on already with only Norwich (12) conceding more.

Even here however there exists a groundswell among Chelsea fans to inject 19-year-old full-back Reece James into the line-up at the expense of captain, Cesar Azpilicueta. Not only has James been capped 23 times at junior level for England, but he also played 3900 minutes for Wigan last season in the Championship and won their Player of the Year award.

Chelsea’s youth-driven brigade is also being reflected in the transfer market.

In fact, of Transfermarkt.com's Top 100 players under the age of 23, Chelsea have six players represented (Mount, Abraham, Pulisic, Christensen as well as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi) with many believing they’ve got the best stockpile of talented youth in Europe.

Another realm where Chelsea’s youth is making a major impact is in terms of the composition of future England teams.

Mason Mount has already broken through, Hudson-Odoi and Loftus-Cheek have been capped, while Tammy Abraham looks every bit worthy of wearing the number nine for England. Timori and James could also find themselves being capped at senior level too if their form warrants it.

The EPL is, of course, an exhaustive, 38-game slugfest, which, in Chelsea’s case, will also include European and domestic cup commitments which will almost inevitably take its toll on their young squad.

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Yet, in a period where Manchester City and Liverpool seem so far ahead of the chasing pack in England, Chelsea's embargo may just have arrived at an opportune time.

They've no choice but to throw their young players to the wolves while also getting the opportunity to reconsider how they approach future transfer windows.

Meanwhile, Lampard gets the chance to drive the Chelsea bus with minimal expectations, which was a luxury never afforded to the likes of previous, more heralded managers Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and most recently, Maurizio Sarri.

No, Chelsea won’t find themselves deep in a title chase this season, however the seeds have most certainly been sewn for future, sustained assaults on both the EPL and Europe.

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