The 2022/23 season for Chelsea signals the official start of a new era for the Blues who no longer have the assuredness of Roman Abramovich's backing.
With Todd Boehly now at the helm of affairs and the club mired in uncertainty both on and off the pitch, here's how we can expect things to pan out at Stamford Bridge over the course of the next nine to ten months.
Review of Chelsea's 2021/22 season
Chelsea were touted as potential title contenders last season but fell short of those expectations for a number of reasons, the season derailed by Covid-19 and controversies surrounding then-owner Roman Abramovich.
Despite all that, Thomas Tuchel's Blues still finished third in the Premier League, won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup and reached both the FA and EFL Cup finals losing both to Liverpool.
It was a relatively successful season which saw Chelsea play all but three possible games in the entire season, the UEFA Champions League semis and final were the only games they missed following elimination at the hands of eventual champions Real Madrid.
State of affairs
To the naked eye, Chelsea are having a bad transfer window so far, hence the club is behind its rivals and could not possibly be expected to compete in the 2022/23 season.
However, a closer look reveals that to be untrue as the club has made two quality additions in Kalidou Koulibaly and Raheem Sterling, replacing the departed Antonio Rudiger and Romelu Lukaku respectively.
If anything, the current squad is just as good as the one that won the UEFA Champions League in 2021 if not even better, it would be unwise to underrate this team.
Transfers: Ins & Outs
So far the narrative around Chelsea's 2022 summer transfer window has been largely dominated by who they didn't sign rather than who they did sign.
Ousmane Dembele, Robert Lewandowski, Jules Kounde and Raphina were all reportedly Chelsea targets who opted for Barcelona instead.
However, the club did sign Raheem Sterling for £49 million and Kalidou Koulibaly for £34 million while Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen both departed as free agents for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively as did Romelu Lukaku who joined Inter Milan on loan.
Big question: Can Chelsea compete with Liverpool and Manchester City?
As it stands, Chelsea can still be considered the leaders of the Premier League chasing pack ahead of the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United.
However, if they aim to break Manchester City and Liverpool's duopoly (which is really a monopoly for the former if you think about it) then the Blues must strengthen the squad rather significantly, which they have so far not had much luck with.
What would constitute a good season?
As it stands, based on the current strength of the squad, Chelsea should be happy with a replica of last season, comfortably finishing third in the league and making deep runs in the cups.
Anything beyond that would be punching above their weight except some major signing are brought in to move the needle and take their expectations into the loft realms of Manchester City and Liverpool.