Do Chelsea FC need to qualify for European football?
Victory over Tottenham on Tuesday night kept alive Chelsea’s hopes of playing European football next season.
The Blues climbed to eighth in the Premier League table, though the point Bournemouth earned against Manchester City did confirm there will be no Champions League football next season.
Chelsea can, however, still qualify for the Europa League or Conference League ahead of what will be their first season under new manager Xabi Alonso.
Is it a good thing for Chelsea to be in the second or third tier of European football next season, or are they better off without any? Here, Standard Sport presents both cases.
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Xabi Alonso will soon start work
PA
The argument that Chelsea would be better off without any European football effectively boils down to the benefits of the rest and reset time it would give them.
Helped by their cup conquerors Grimsby and Brighton, Manchester United have played only 40 games in all competitions this season, their fewest in a campaign since 1914-15. That was largely due to spending a second season not in European football due to having finished 15th in the table last term.
By comparison, Arsenal’s Champions League final will be their 63rd game of the season.
Via the sacking of Ruben Amorim and interim appointment of Michael Carrick, it has worked wonders for United, who have been able to rest between weekends, spend more time on the training pitch perfecting tactics and set-plays, and hone a formidable team without the stresses of playing Tuesday-Saturday-Wednesday-Sunday throughout the season.
Chelsea could benefit from similarly having their blinkers on, focusing solely on domestic matters next season.
Not having so many fixtures would also reduce the likelihood of Chelsea players suffering serious injuries, something that has held them back in recent years.
It would enable them to focus on Premier League form — on getting back into the Champions League next season — and on having a serious shot at winning the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, or both, without the threat of lethargy or burnout.
And so the argument it is better for them not to be in Europe is chiefly a football argument, that fewer games will do them good in the long run.
Chelsea won the Conference League last season
Getty
European football is needed
One of the strongest arguments in favour of playing European football next season is the prize money that comes with finishing that high in the Premier League table, as well as the money from UEFA that comes with being a Europa League or Conference League participant.
With each round Chelsea reach, they would get further performance-bonus prize money, too, and it will not be lost on Chelsea’s bookkeepers that the £87million they made from the Club World Cup triumph was instrumental in balancing the books in their current financial year. It is lucrative business to qualify for Europe.
Purely on football terms, it is also true that Alonso and his new coaching staff would be likelier to spot tactical issues that need solving the more regularly Chelsea are playing. An issue that had not yet reared its head in a domestic game might show its face on the European stage and enable Alonso and his team of analysts to find fixes against perhaps less taxing opposition.
For prospective summer signings, it is more attractive to be joining Chelsea if they are in Europe than if they are not. It gives a player considering signing for Chelsea a greater chance of winning silverware — one more competition to play in — and also greater chance of game time in their debut season.
For stars potentially considering calling it a day and leaving Chelsea, European football, alongside the glamorous appointment of Alonso, is a pull to keep them in. There was no sense last summer of Chelsea being too proud to celebrate their Conference League title in Wroclaw. It was a big deal, for Champions League winner Reece James, for World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez, for them all.
And finally, the obvious point: Chelsea would likely be the favourites to win either the Europa League or Conference League if they qualified for either.
The way things are shaping up in leagues across the continent, Italy’s fallen giants Juventus and Alonso’s former club Bayer Leverkusen — who are also not what they once were — appear the sternest opposition they might face in the Europa League, aside from whichever English team joins them in the competition. In the Conference League, it is looking like Atalanta, Freiburg or Monaco.
Alonso would immediately have pressure on him but would have a huge chance of winning silverware in his debut season. Any Chelsea manager that can achieve that is making life easier for themselves.
