Throughout the 2023/24 season, Chelsea have been in woeful form, losing 16 Premier League games so far. In recent weeks, however, it felt as if they may be finally finding their feet once again.
Mauricio Pochettino's men have even found themselves in the final of the Carabao Cup following a convincing 6-1 win against Championship side, Middlesbrough, in the semi-finals.
But, just eight days after the clash, they fell back into their lacklustre form and lost 4-1 against fellow Carabao Cup finalists, Liverpool.
To rub even more salt into their wounds, during Sunday's clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers, the west London club somehow managed to concede four against Gary O'Neil's men, which resulted in a 4-2 win for the Midlands-based club.
The Blues currently sit in 11th place, 15 points adrift of the top four spots which they were supposedly gunning for at the start of the season.
Why Malo Gusto needs to be benched
Although none of Chelsea's players received a rating of over 7/10 courtesy of The Evening Standard, Malo Gusto in particular had a poor day in the office.
The France international received the joint lowest rating of 3/10 with record British transfer signing, Moises Caicedo. The pair were never really in the game and Gusto's passing was near catastrophic.
Not only was his passing below par, the defender also lost 10/12 of the duels he faced throughout the game, according to Sofascore. These numbers are simply woeful and outline how poorly the youngster played during the game. To make matters worse, the full-back was even to blame for the late penalty Chelsea conceded, bringing down Matheus Cunha who sealed his hat-trick.
Minutes played
81
Touches
70
Accurate passes
40/46 (87%)
Ground duels won
2/12
Aerials won
0
Dribbled past
3x
Tackles
0
Key passes
1
Dribble attempts
0/3
When compared to Nelson Semedo of Wolves, the Portugal international managed to win over half of his 11 duels as he came out on top six times. So, with Gusto losing out on 10 of the 12 duels he faced, it shows that his head was really not in the game.
In the case of Caicedo, despite setting up Cole Palmers' 14th goal of the season, it was yet another defensive calamity from the Ecuador international.
He lost possession eight times throughout the game, with one of those times leading to Matheus Cunha equalising for Wolves. His poor performance even resulted in him being removed from the game in the 63rd minute.
Who could replace Malo Gusto
One of the main reasons why Gusto is starting for Chelsea in the first place is because of the recent injuries Chelsea's star man, Reece James has been through.
As per Transfermarkt, the England international has missed a total of 28 games across the season thus far and is set to be sidelined until at least the 11th of March.
Without James in the squad, Chelsea have few options for the right-back role. Before he was also injured, Trevoh Chalobah had been deployed in the full-back position.
Since then, however, the position has been shared by Axel Disasi and Gusto. With that in mind, Disasi is the clear option to replace the youngster at right-back for the time being.
Although the former Monaco man is naturally a centre-back, his defensive abilities would help sure-up Pochettino's defence.
During the game against Wolves, Disasi was deployed at centre-back and, as per Sofascore he won 100% of his ground duels.
That means he would likely be a much safer option at this moment in time, as Gusto may still need time to adjust to the physicality of the Premier League.
However, once James has returned from injury, he will likely be slotted into Chelsea's first-team sooner rather than later.