It would be hard to describe this season as anything other than a car crash for Chelsea, as back-to-back hammerings from Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League have all but ended the Blues' chance of European qualification.
There is still the League Cup final to come, but with the Anfield outfit as their opponent, it is hard to see how they'll be lifting that come full-time.
While there are plenty of problems at the club, one of the biggest is their frontline's inability to finish their chances.
Nicolas Jackson has become infamous for his myriad of misses this season, and what makes it worse is the club's failure to sign a replacement they were heavily linked with last month, a man who would've given them a chance at Wembley and formed a brilliant partnership with Cole Palmer.
Close but no Cigar
Now, clubs like Chelsea are often linked with a multitude of players every transfer window, and while a significant portion of these stories are nothing more than rumours, the links to Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres last month seemed genuine.
Things looked even more real when it was revealed that the Blues had made a £73m bid for the Swedish international halfway through the window.
However, with a release clause worth closer to £86m, the Portuguese giants were unwilling to accept the offer, so Todd Boehly and Co appeared to call it quits.
While this decision to walk away might have been wise from a financial point of view, considering the reluctance to spend from English clubs, it also seriously handicapped what the club could achieve on the pitch for the rest of the season.
Gyokeres could have turned Chelsea's season around
Now, unfortunately for Chelsea, their season has gone so poorly this year that in this case, 'turning it around' would likely just mean qualification for the Conference League and potentially winning the League Cup at the expense of Liverpool; while you may think that's unlikely, Gyokeres' goal record speaks for itself.
In 25 appearances for Sporting across all competitions this season, the former Coventry City ace has scored a remarkable 21 goals and provided nine assists, meaning he is averaging a goal involvement every 0.83 matches.
What makes it more impressive is that he is not being flooded with chances either, as his 15 league goals have come from an expected goals figure of 10.9, and his 12 non-penalty expected goals come from a non-penalty expected goals figure of 8.5.
In short, the dynamic "powerhouse", as described by data analyst Ben Mattinson, has been consistently overperforming his expected goals figure this season. In contrast, Jackson has seven league goals from a figure of 10.8, which would explain why he has picked up a reputation for being profligate.
Had the Blues just pushed the boat out that little bit more last month and signed the "unplayable" 25-year-old, as former teammate Maxim Biamou described him, then the talismanic Palmer would have had a genuine poacher to work with at the top of the pitch.
The former Manchester City gem has been one of the few bright spots in the Pensioners' bleak season, but his creative numbers have been impacted by his teammate's inability to finish the chances he creates.
Expected Assists
5.4
Assists
4
Progressive Passes per 90
7.20
Progressive Carries per 90
3.31
Shot-Creating Actions per 90
4.51
Successful Take-Ons per 90
1/66
All Stats via FBref for the 2023/24 Domestic Season
For example, he only has four assists in 20 league appearances this season, but an expected assists figure of 5.4 demonstrates that he could be even more involved in Chelsea's play with a clinical frontman.
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Ultimately, this could be a transfer miss that really comes back to bite the Blues and potentially even cost Pochettino his job. After all, goals win games, and Gyokeres brings goals.
