WhoScored's Throwback Thursday: Revisiting Drogba's stunning Chelsea season
We all love a Throwback Thursday, where memorable events are revisited, and football is no different. Here, WhoScored.com take a trip down memory lane to recall a great individual season across Europe’s top five leagues, starting first with Didier Drogba’s stunning campaign in Chelsea’s 2009/10 Premier League title triumph.
When the Blues initially signed Drogba from Marseille, many felt they’d overspent on an untested striker. True, the Ivorian struggled at first, but he’d go on to become one of the Premier League’s most feared frontmen and his 2009/10 season warrants being looked upon positively.
He ended the campaign with the best WhoScored.com rating (8.32) in the Premier League, a return only the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo could match in the present day. It may have taken until the final day of the season for Chelsea to be crowned champions, but their attack is remembered fondly with Drogba leading the line with aplomb.
Chelsea netted 103 league goals that season, with Drogba scored 29 and assisting 10 of those – he was one of only three players to register double figures for goals and assists, along with Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas. A hat-trick in a 8-0 win over Wigan on the final day of the season capped off a fine individual performance across the duration of the campaign in a match Drogba was named the WhoScored.com man of the match, one of 13 of the accolades he’d ultimately receive, more than any other player.
It wasn’t just his goalscoring efforts that warranted adulation. While 5.6 shots per game was second only to Wayne Rooney (5.7), 1.8 key passes per game highlighted a willingness to bring teammates into play, with that return ranking among the top 30 players in the Premier League. Defensively, too, Drogba earned the plaudits as returns of 0.7 tackles, one interception and 1.5 clearances per game suggest.
Only Manchester United (28) conceded fewer goals than Chelsea (32) that term with Drogba as effective attacking an opponents’ goal as he was defending his own. With his back to goal or facing the opposition defence, teams struggled to contain the Blues’ star forward and it translated to one of the more memorable seasons in Premier League history.
His relationship with Lampard was also a defining factor in Chelsea’s domestic success. Lampard to Drogba was the best assist-to-goalscorer return in the Premier League in the 2009/10 season, returning six goals, with their offensive partnership more than capable of blowing any team away on their day. The duo were both hugely influential in Chelsea’s domestic success as the west London side landed the FA Cup and Premier League double.
Drogba would bow out on a high as he netted the winning penalty in the 2012 Champions League final before his brief return to Stamford Bridge in 2014, but it was his stunning individual campaign for the 2009/10 season that lives long in the memory of Chelsea fans as arguably his best in the capital.
