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Of the many signings brought in to Chelsea this summer none have surprised quite as much as Oriol Romeu. The young Spaniard burst onto the scene last fall and saw an extended first-team run during the winter but after a (reportedly minor) injury he has been relegated to the bench. His last start was on January 31st and recently he’s seen back-to-back appearances as an unused substitute under new manager Roberto Di Matteo. So does he deserve to be on the pitch or does he actually belong on the bench? Let’s find out…

Chelsea have a win percentage of 64% in the 22 games Romeu has played in (W14 D6 L2), up from only 37% (W7 D5 L7) in the 19 matches Romeu has not featured.

A pretty substantial difference, Chelsea have seen a 73% increase in their win percentage this season when Romeu has played in any part of a match.

Chelsea have a +23 goal difference in the 22 games Oriol Romeu has played (average goal difference of 1.05 per game), allowing only 18 goals in these games (0.82 goals allowed/game) and scoring 41 goals (1.86/game). In the 19 games without Romeu Chelsea have a +7 goal difference (average GD of 0.36/game), allowing 24 goals (1.26/game) and scoring 31 goals (1.60/game) in these matches.

Not only do Chelsea have a goal difference of more than three times as much in matches Romeu has played in, but they also allow over half a goal less per game and ironically scoring has actually increased by 16% when Romeu plays any part of the match.

With these stats alone you could make a pretty strong argument that Chelsea are better when Romeu is on the pitch, but when you look at the stats below it’s an easy call…

Chelsea have an 82% win percentage (9W 1D 1L) when Romeu players full 90 minutes of a match and only a 38% win percentage (12W 10D 8L) when he doesn’t.

When Romeu plays the full 90 minutes Chelsea have scored 22 goals (2 goals/game), conceded only 6 (0.55 goals/game) and have a goal difference of 16 (1.45 goals/game).

In the 30 games Romeu hasn’t played the full match Chelsea have scored 50 goals (1.67/gm), conceded 36 goals (1.2/gm) and have a goal difference of only 14 goals (0.47/gm).

Yes, that’s correct, Chelsea have a better goal difference in the 11 games Romeu has played the full 90 minutes in than the 30 where he hasn’t. Simply amazing, not to mention Chelsea have allowed twice as many goals per game in the same situation.

I don’t care what the reason is for Romeu riding the pine lately at Chelsea, be it his ever looming and confusing buy-back clause with Barcelona, respect for more “senior” players, or even the return of Michael Essien, there needs to be a place for Oriol Romeu in the starting 11 of Chelsea. He’s earned it.