Why Chelsea have been handed golden Premier League opportunity after first 10 games

Heading into the November international break, Chelsea are currently placed third in the Premier League.

Enzo Maresca's side are nine points behind league leaders Liverpool, while four points adrift of Manchester City in second place. Chelsea sit above Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion on goal difference, with all four sides on 19 points.

In the first 11 games, Chelsea have already played the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion. It's been far from a comfortable start to the campaign.

Just two defeats so far this season which have come against the top two, Liverpool and Man City. Chelsea will rue several of those draws, but having overcome the beginning of the campaign and coming out in third, regardless if the table makes for close reading, they will certainly have accepted it prior to the season starting.

Even more so with Opta's latest fixture difficulty ranking, which has determined Chelsea's first 10 matches to be the third toughest schedule in the league.

Maresca's side has seen his side's first 10 games draw an average opponent difficulty rating of 88.7, with only Wolves and Bournemouth having tougher fixtures.

Since numbers are crunched more than ever nowadays, this will please Maresca and Chelsea's analytical department, offering them confirmation that they have had a positive start to the season.

"To be honest, it's nice, especially for the fans because the last period has not been great or as good as the club are used to," Maresca said on Chelsea's third place position. "We are happy."

But the work is only just starting and Chelsea have given themselves the platform to shine and build on their early season form with their run of fixtures which await them between now and the end of the year.

Newly-promoted sides Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich Town are to come, all away from home, before 2024 concludes, with Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur arguably the most difficult of the fixtures.

Brentford, Everton and Fulham complete the fixture schedule for Chelsea as Crystal Palace awaits on January 4th 2025, which offers Maresca and the Blues a golden chance to cement their place in the top four.

Once 2025 begins, Chelsea should be seeing themselves still in the top four with a healthy number of points heading into the second half of the season. They've got through some the most difficult matches, so now it's time to take advantage of the more favourable matches on paper. If there is a time to judge Chelsea... it's now.