Under the shade of Koulibaly, Chelsea's new era will be no waltz but strengths remain

The dawn of the Todd Boehly regime was always going to be an adjustment but in the formidable shape of the Senegalese skipper and other arrival Raheem Sterling, a new identity will emerge 

Battle for London: Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah, left, heads the ball away from Chelsea's Kalidou Koulibaly during the second half of a Florida Cup friendly soccer match Saturday, July 23, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Pic: AP Photo/John Raoux

If you wandered through one of those alternative realities that the likes of Mark Zuckerberg are keen to entice us into (weird headset still mandatory, for now, but we’re working on the brain implant) you may find yourself occupying a fantasy world where Chelsea are the third team in London behind Tottenham and Arsenal.

Since the takeover in 2003 by Roman Abramovich it has required a rare alignment of the stars for such an event. It happened in 2012, although much balm was applied by Chelsea’s Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich and their victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. It occurred again in 2016, arguably Chelsea’s worst season in the Premier League marked by the pre-Christmas dismissal of José Mourinho with Guus Hiddink parachuted in for a second stint as caretaker manager. The team scored a miserable tally of 59 goals in the league. Even then, there was a delicious, and still celebrated, merry month of May moment for supporters at Stamford Bridge when the Blues recovered from a 2-0 half-time deficit to draw 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur and wreck their hopes of winning the title.