Club World Cup triumph shows Chelsea can win the Premier League

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Chelsea have “won it all,” but can the newly crowned world champions now win the Premier League?

As Enzo Maresca’s team head back to London with a shiny new cup to place in the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet, big Club World Cup performers such as Cole Palmer, João Pedro and Moisés Caicedo need to start turning their thoughts to domestic challenges.

Sunday’s success in becoming first winners of the expanded 32-team FIFA Club World Cup by defeating European champions Paris Saint-Germain means that Chelsea have earned the unique distinction of winning every competition that the club has participated in.

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Their Conference League success two months ago, when they beat Real Betis to win UEFA’s football’s third tier tournament, completed the set in European football; but Sunday’s Club World Cup triumph — after having previously won the smaller, seven-team version — means Chelsea have indeed won every competition available to them.

But Chelsea will start the 2025-26 season having not lifted the Premier League trophy since 2017 — and only when they end their domestic title drought will the club be able to say they are back where they expect to be.

It is a quirk of club football that Chelsea have lifted all four European trophies — the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and Super Cup — and the small-scale and expanded Club World Cup since last being champions of England.

Yet after spending over £1 billion on new players since the Todd Boehly/Clearlake consortium bought the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022, the time has come for Chelsea to deliver at home again. The club’s owners might regard the Club World Cup as the pinnacle, enabling Chelsea to project themselves as world champions until the next planned staging of the tournament in 2029, and Maresca was keen to talk up the importance of the win.

“I think it will become as important as the Champions League,” the coach said after the game. “And we value it as much as winning the Champions League.”

The reality for Chelsea’s supporters, though, is that the Premier League is really what matters. Ask any Premier League supporter and being able to assert themselves as champions of England is the first priority.

But the good news for Chelsea is that their victory over PSG — a deserved win against the best team in the world over the past six months — highlighted the potential of Maresca and his team.

After three years of throwing money around and having a revolving door of players heading in and out of the locker room, Chelsea finally look to have built a team. The summer addition of Pedro from Brighton & Hove Albion might prove to be the decisive signing — the player who makes it all fit together — but many of the building blocks were already in place. They just needed time and patience before gelling.

Maresca also has silenced his doubters during the Club World Cup, showing himself to be tactically astute and prepared to change his approach when the occasion demands. By moving full-back Reece James into midfield alongside Caicedo and Enzo Fernández to cope with PSG’s midfield of Vitinha, João Neves and Fabián Ruiz, Maresca made the key move to win the game.

Prior to the final, Maresca had said that he regarded football as being like chess in that you had to outthink and outsmart your opponent. He did just that against Luis Enrique, a coach who has won trebles with Barcelona and PSG. If Maresca can outfox Enrique, he can do it against anybody.

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But winning a Premier League takes more than winning tactical battles against rival coaches. The players must deliver too and take responsibility on the pitch.

Palmer, of course, is the ace in Chelsea’s pack. He has won games single-handedly in the past, but the way did it against PSG was mesmerizing, scoring two goals before creating a third for Pedro. Palmer floats with intent across the front three but is most dangerous playing on the right then cutting inside, as he did to such devastating effect against the Ligue 1 champions. The England forward is a proven performer in the Premier League and good enough to be Chelsea’s version of Mohamed Salah or Kevin De Bruyne by winning the biggest games for his team.

And he also seems to have struck an instant understanding with Pedro, who has shown himself to be a major upgrade on the inconsistent Nicolas Jackson. Yet when Pedro was replaced by Liam Delap during the second half against PSG, the summer signing from Ipswich Town also had a big impact and looked sharp and dangerous.

So, Chelsea can call on a number of real goal threats; they have an intelligent, pragmatic coach; and their midfield is tenacious and effective. Perhaps they still have issues to address in defence, but against PSG, Maresca’s back four and goalkeeper Robert Sánchez demonstrated they can keep it tight and concentrate for 90 minutes.

All in all, Chelsea have every ingredient required to win the Premier League, and their success in the United States will no doubt have been noted back home by Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City.

If they can find consistency, Chelsea are back in the race for the Premier League title.