Season Preview: Chelsea

Overall Outlook - It's been a pretty quiet off-season for the Champions with some fringe players with bigger names than games (JCole, Ballack, Deco, etc.) moving on and some less high-profile names (Ramires and Benayoun) coming in.  The veteran team also got a year older which has to be of some concern but certainly not to the point where you expect any of their big names to have a significant drop.  You just can't expect that many of them will improve and should expect slightly reduced performance and perhaps a few more injuries from players like Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho (if he sticks around), and Ashley Cole. That said, these are the reigning champions and neither of their closest competitors for last season's title - ManYoo and Arsenal - have made a significant step forward so you have to expect Chelsea to be the favorites unless ManCiteh make an unexpected huge step forward.  Seems like old times with a professional, unexciting, Ancelotti-led squad marching inexorably toward the title with a string of 2-1 and 1-0 wins being chased by a high-risk, high-reward, Mancini-led squad providing entertaining football but losing too many points to their inability to keep the ball out of the net while inexplicably losing the occasional 3-0 disaster to an inferior team. 


Projected Starters - Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, ACole, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Malouda, Benayoun, Drogba

In the Rotation - Ramires, Anelka, Carvalho, Bosingwa (once he's healthy), Ferreira, Kalou, Zhirkov, Sturridge

Kicks - Frank Lampard will get the majority of the opportunities with Drogba, Essien, and Malouda getting the occasional chance.

Newcomers

• Ramires, M - He plays primarily in a holding role for Brazil and is capable of both brilliance as well as the occasional lapses in judgment/effort despite his legendary stamina.  With the way Chelsea plays in midfield (mostly pinched in) and his tendency to be more of a holding player than an attacking one, I have a hard time seeing him making a major fantasy impact.  Throw in the fact that the players he was brought in to replace - JCole, Ballack, Deco - never made much of a dent in fantasy and the only reason to play him is if his price stays low;
• Benayoun, M - I like this move much better from a fantasy standpoint.  Benayoun is a solid fit out to the right (but not too far right) of Lamps in the role that JCole and Deco did poorly in last season.  Benayoun makes nice runs cutting in from wide will play well with Bosingwa who will likely re-emerge as the RB once he's healthy.  He's a bit over-priced for my tastes right now but if he's in the 7s or 8s and/or the match-up is a good one for Chelsea then I'd definitely consider him.

Rising Youth

• There really isn't any youth rising at Chelsea with Mancienne and Sinclair likely to be loaned out again or even sold permanently.  van Aanholt is getting some press but he's much more likely to make an impact away from Stamford Bridge than he is to sniff the first team at Chelsea.

Fantasy Breakdown

• Best - Drogba has easily supplanted Frank Lampard as the best fantasy player Chelsea has to offer assuming that both are healthy;
• Best Value (non-newcomer) - The characters at Chelsea are fairly well known at this point so there aren't a lot of value picks to be made here with Drogba at pre-season pricing the best value among the established squad.  That said, once Bosingwa makes his return from injury (and assuming he regains his spot as a starter) he is excellent value at his current price (6.70) so watch for that;
• Best Projected Value - Until we see where Ramires lines up and how regularly Benayoun starts, it's hard to say how much "new" value there is in the Chelsea line-up - I'm betting that Benayoun ends up being the right pick in this category but with so many points taken up by established stars, it's going to be hard to have a real winner emerge here;
• Worth Considering With Good Match-ups - Pretty much anyone in the starting line-up depending on how they're priced - no "stay away" guys here;
• Worth Knowing If He's Starting - Zhirkov (listed as a D this season), Anelka, Bosingwa, Sturridge, Kalou, Ramires (pending some information on where he's playing)