After Chelsea's recent 2-0 victory at home to Fulham, manager Jose Mourinho responded to his critics by reminding them how the recent win put his side top of the Premier League table after five games. However, stats can be very misleading, and one quick look to their performances would suggest fortune has played its part in their bright start to the campaign. Against Fulham, the visitors held their own for the majority of the game, until a fortunate rebound landed in Oscar's path to break the deadlock. Until then, Fulham had defended Chelsea and kept them at bay. In their previous matches against Aston Villa and Manchester United, both opponents failed to take golden opportunities to swing the game in their favour. While 'ifs' and 'buts' mean nothing without application, many still feel Chelsea will come up short this season. Goals from the strikers was said to be the main worry before a ball was even kicked, and it's proving true currently. Chelsea have Fernando Torres, Demba Ba, and Samuel Eto'o as their choices in attack for this season, and the aforementioned trio are all yet to score in the league after five games. Ba is enduring one of the worst goal droughts of his career, with his last goal coming in March. Torres has scored just one goal in the last 9 months in the Premier League, which further highlights a deficiency the side needed to strengthen this summer. Mourinho signed Samuel Eto'o on a free transfer as a quick-fix to solve their goal problem upfront, but the 32-year old has so far failed to impress. Against Fulham, it was midfielders John Obi Mikel and Oscar who got on the score sheet, but Chelsea cannot rely on midfielders to get among the goals in every game. While 10 points from their first six games is a good start, it doesn't paper over the cracks in the side, and scoring enough goals could well be a problem area.
Crippy Cooke, 23, is a freelance Football Writer contributing to What Culture. He's had work featured on Zoo, MSN, London 24, The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, and was recently named Writer of the Year on FTBpro - while also a nominee for Best Male Blog in the Football Blogging Awards.
