Prior to the breakout of COVID-19, it had been an impressive first season for Frank Lampard at Chelsea
His side currently occupy a place in the Premier League’s top four and are three points clear of Manchester United in fifth. This means that they are in a strong position in terms of again qualifying for the Champions League next season.
This league positioning is impressive when considering that Lampard couldn’t make moves in the transfer market upon his arrival last summer and his side have had to additionally juggle the demands of playing midweek games in the Champions League throughout the course of the campaign too.
In the Premier League, one of the Blues’ best assets under Lampard this season has been their ability to strike first in their fixtures, as is highlighted below.
This season, Chelsea have scored the opening goal in 20 of their 29 league matches. This ranks as the second-best record in the division behind only league leaders Liverpool. But beyond getting your side off to a good start, how important is that first goal and how much does it impact the result overall?
Well unsurprisingly, it usually proves to be a decisive factor. In fact, numerous football studies conclude that scoring the game's opening goal will lead to victory roughly 70% of the time - which is obviously high.
So far this season, Chelsea’s have taken the lead on 25 occasions in the league - this constitutes scoring the game's opening goal, like above, or taking the lead whilst the game is at a score draw stage. Of those 25 times, their opponents have found an equaliser on 11 occasions.
This is a high number of equalising goals conceded and much higher than their top-four rivals with each of Manchester United, Leicester City and Manchester City all conceding an equaliser on just seven occasions this season whilst Liverpool have conceded an equaliser on just four occasions.
What this tells us then is that based on research, scoring the game's opening goal should be a critical component in terms of going on to secure victories. Chelsea’s inability to maintain these advantages, however, has been a problem and may explain why the Blues are languishing in fourth instead of pursuing a position inside the league’s top two.
Luckily though, the ability to score first remains an important asset, and Lampard will know that should his side improve in terms of shutting out games after taking the lead next season, then they could well be knocking on the door of the Premier League title race.
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