Douglas Luiz in? Have Chelsea made contact to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta? Tactical analysis of Pafos win, New coach impact can take time but I see Maresca again still, My reactions to Rosenior's ......

The Chelsea FC Newsletter: Friday 23rd January 2026!

Morning all,

We’ve reached the weekend once again!

Chelsea play on Sunday this week, and we go away to Crystal Palace in the Premier League for the 2pm kick off UK time. Palace are having a bit of a meltdown right now as a club, so maybe it’s a good time to play them? Or maybe not… Either way, we got to be feeling confident going into this one.

More reactions came in yesterday from the Pafos win. I reacted to Liam Rosenior’s reactions here in every word he said after the game.

Some things I’ve noticed, and been a bit concerned about, after watching Rosenior’s first four games in charge at the club can be found here. I picked up on some comments I agree with off X after the game too.

I found some really good analysis of the game from a tactical standpoint, some analysis that wasn’t written by an emotional Chelsea fan like myself. However, it shared some of the same concerns as me, which is interesting. You can read that here.

Meanwhile, have Chelsea really made contact to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta this window? Well, it’s been claimed. Read all about that here, as well as my verdict, and a poll asking whether you think we should be in for him.

Round up all of your latest general Chelsea news from across the last 24 hours in the same place here. This is where you will find out all about our attempts to sign Douglas Luiz on loan for the rest of the season and everything else that happened yesterday!

With some transfer bits going on, I’ll jump on the Substack App to report anything I hear over the weekend until I’m back on the site on Sunday.

Have a great weekend all!

Peace, Si.