After winning the Europa Conference League and stunning European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in the summer, Chelsea began this season with raised expectations.

For perhaps the first time in the Todd Boehly era, it felt like the Blues were moving in the right direction.

Two pieces of silverware within the space of a couple of months — while not major by Chelsea’s standards — seemed like stepping stones to bigger and better things. Those betting on another successful campaign with football free bets had reason to feel optimistic.

Yet now, as we move into November, the Stamford Bridge outfit have already hit numerous stumbling blocks. Five wins, two draws, and three defeats after 10 Premier League games have left them languishing in seventh and in a battle for Champions League football.

Meanwhile, two wins, a draw, and a defeat in the Champions League also highlight their inconsistency. The defeat away to Bayern Munich is excusable, but scrapping a 2-2 draw with Qarabag — who, admittedly, are having their best-ever start to a Champions League campaign — is not.

The biggest concern is that it appears head coach Enzo Maresca, now in his second season at the Bridge, is having selection headaches each week.

The Italian has made 85 changes to his starting XI already this season, averaging six swaps per game. It’s not surprising, therefore, that Chelsea have struggled to string together a consistent run of solid results.

For every good performance — like the 5-1 win over Ajax or the 1-0 win away to rivals Tottenham — a poor showing has followed soon after, such as the loss at home to Sunderland or the draw with Qarabag.

But it isn’t as if Maresca is chopping and changing for no reason. The Club World Cup, which took place over the summer, gave Chelsea very limited rest during the off-season.

In modern football, those few weeks of recovery in June and July are crucial. Chelsea had that practically ripped away, and the resulting Club World Cup hangover is clearly having an impact on Maresca’s players.

That’s one reason why the starting XI has been so fluid — the other is injuries. Captain Reece James has been in and out of the side, Cole Palmer has been sidelined for weeks after trying to play through a knock, and summer signing Liam Delap was out from August until recently with a hamstring injury.

At this stage, it feels as though everyone in the squad has had some kind of issue that’s forced Maresca into making changes.

Of course, Maresca is fortunate in one respect: he has the squad depth to cope with these challenges. Many other clubs wouldn’t manage the same schedule or injury list without collapsing. Yet, with players not at 100% and fitness concerns dictating selections, it does raise the question — does Maresca truly know his best XI?

Until he finds that consistency in both personnel and performance, Chelsea’s season may continue to mirror their lineup: talented, unpredictable, and still searching for the perfect balance.