Primebaze.com.ng "They are the worst results ever
in my career but I am
comfortable with the situation."
- Jose Mourinho after Saturday's
defeat to Everton
The sound of Jose Mourinho
insisting he is the best man to
lead Chelsea just four months
after taking them to the
Premier League title is a
measure of the scale of their
decline this season.
Chelsea's 3-1 defeat at Everton
on Saturday was their third in
five league games - adding up to
the club's worst start in 29 years
as they lie in the uncharted
territory, for Mourinho at least,
of 16th place in the table.
Is Chelsea's title defence over
already?
It takes a brave man to write off
Mourinho and Chelsea after only
five games of the new season -
but even "The Special One"
himself was reduced to offering
assurances they would not be
relegated after being bundled
out of the way by Everton.
Study the evidence and,
premature as it may seem, it
looks like Chelsea's closest rivals
Manchester City are already over
the hills and far away, with five
wins from five and 11 points
ahead of the faltering
champions.
Chelsea have lost four of their
last seven Premier League
games - they had lost only four
of their previous 44 before this
run.
Of course Chelsea will improve.
Mourinho is too good a
manager, there is too much
quality locked in his squad for
this poor sequence to continue
and his talk of avoiding
relegation sounding like a
sideways swipe at those
revelling in his struggles.
Champions Chelsea's terrible
start
This is the first time that Jose
Mourinho has lost two
successive Premier League
games since May 2006.
In their last seven Premier
League games, Chelsea have
conceded 16 goals - one more
than they conceded in the
whole of Mourinho's first
season in charge in 2004-05
(15).
The last time that Chelsea had
a worse start to a top-flight
season was in 1986-87 (three
points - P5 W0 D3 L2). They
finished that season in 14th
position.
Chelsea have already equalled
their tally of defeats from the
whole of 2014-15 (3) after
five games of 2015-16.
Chelsea have lost four of their
last seven Premier League
games - they had only lost
four of their previous 44 PL
games before this run.
Chelsea's position of 16th
after five games is the worst
start by a defending
champion since Blackburn in
1996. Rovers too were in 16th
place after five games, but
they were only eight points
behind leaders Newcastle.
The bottom line is, however, that
City are currently head and
shoulders above the rest of the
Premier League, showing a
capacity to dig out wins at
Crystal Palace - with a late goal
from Nigerian teenager Kelechi
Iheanacho - as well as
outclassing Chelsea themselves.
Chelsea are already looking for
City to lose four games while
they start winning theirs - and
the opposite looks more likely at
the moment. The crown may
have already been taken off their
heads.