A lot has been made about the depth of the Chelsea squad this season. Many believe that Chelsea are favorites to lift the Barclay’s Premier League trophy this season simply because there is just as much quality on the bench as there is in the starting XI. Well, this past weekend validates this claim. In a team sheet that was missing Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Deco, and Michael Ballack Chelsea were still able to run rampant scoring three out of their four goals within the first 23 minutes of the game. Granted Wolverhampton is a team pegged to be slugging it out in a fight to stay up this season, they must have come into the game with the confidence of knowing they wouldn’t have to line up opposite some of the best players in the world. Any confidence Wolverhampton did have was squashed by the left boot of Florent Malouda whose 20 yard rocket to the top corner was a perfect strike. For Chelsea this was the first time all season to prove that injuries to key players in the squad wouldn’t affect the quest for trophies on all fronts this season. I think Chelsea made their point loud and clear, they are a team with quality players at every level not just the starting XI. For Chelsea the most exciting part of this past weekend’s fixture was the successful debuts of Gael Kakuta and Nemanja Matic. The introduction of two excellent young players into a squad of superstars looks promising for the long term as well as the short term future of Chelsea FC, especially with the African Cup of Nations taking the services of Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Mikel, and Salomon Kalou this January.
