In the past four seasons, the success of Chelsea has depended on the performance of the Spanish nationals in the team. The players from Spain had done better than their counterparts from other nations even at the time when the Londoners were struggling. There's no time that Chelsea's starting eleven will lack at least three players, and sometimes all can be on the field of play at the same. The reliance on Spanish players has seen Cesar Azpilicueta become the vice-captain at the team that's defending the English title.
The number of players is high
The total number of Spanish player in Chelsea's first team is five, a number that's much higher than the players in the hosting nation. At the time when Gary Cahill had suspension early in the season, no other English player was featured in The Blues' starting lineup. In fact, the team can do without English player but must include Spaniards nearly in every competition that Chelsea takes part in.
Chelsea found the replacement of its former talisman, Diego Costa after signing his Spanish national team compatriot, Alvaro Morata. Other stars from Spain include; Cesc Fabregas, Pedro Rodriguez, Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azplicueta.
Where do Chelsea goals come from?
Inside the first six weeks of Premier League activities, Alvaro Morata is already among the three players who are topping the top scorers' board with six league goals.
Despite being a defender, Marcos Alonso has two goals to his name already. Cesc Fabregas who doesn't get full-time appearance also has a goal to his name. In all the league games that Chelsea has played so far, goals and assists have come from Spanish players except the barren draw against Arsenal.
In the last three seasons, the top scorers at Stamford Bridge are players who come from Spain.
In fact, there's already prospect that Alvaro Morata is going to lead with goals having netted six already. Diego Costa who's finalizing his ways back to Atletico Madrid has been the leading scorers in the last three seasons for the West Londoners. Pedro Rodriguez is also another reliable goal scorer who still finds where the net is even with the mask on his face this season.
Fabregas has played a pivotal role towards feeding the scorers with balls that turn into goals. The former Arsenal midfielder is one of the masters of set-pieces at Chelsea who plays the dangerous free-kicks and corners. Fabregas gets involved in many goals leading into goals. The Spain midfielder is currently ranking number two after Manchester United legend, Ryan Giggs in the all-time time players with the highest assists. Also, Azpilicueta despite being a defender, he already has four assists in just six league matches.
Versatility and stopping Chelsea from conceding goals
The Spanish players are well distributed in all the departments in the squad. The squad has two Spanish defenders who work so hard to help The Blues keep clean sheets.
The two defenders are Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso who together have played key responsibility in ensuring that their side goes three games without conceding goals. Besides, the duo is very versatile and have been very instrumental in creating and scoring the goals. For instance, Marcos Alonso is a lethal free-kick taker who scored two goals in the 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspurs at the Wembley Stadium. Apart from shielding the Chelsea goal, the vice-captain has assisted in four goals, and any other defender in the whole league can match him at least for now.
