At first, with a home draw against Swansea followed by a 3-0 mauling by Manchester City, neutral observers might have seen Chelsea’s start to the season as a blip on the radar; the slow bedding in of several new faces perhaps.
But as thing spiralled from bad (2-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace) to worse (3-1 losers, also at home, to Southampton), it has become apparent that this is a full-blown crisis for the reigning EPL champions.
This becomes startlingly clear if you delve in to the latest OPTA stats. There is nothing pretty for Chelsea fans in this lot:
- Chelsea have conceded at least two goals in seven of their eight Premier League games this season.
- They have now let in as many goals in their last four EPL home games (seven) as they had in the previous 17 at Stamford Bridge.
- No team has ever finished higher than fifth in the Premier League, having got just eight points from their opening eight games.
- Chelsea have exactly eight from eight.
- The average finishing position from this start is 14th.
- This is Chelsea’s lowest points total after eight games in a top-flight season since 1978-79 (4 points), when the two-points for a win rule was operating. Chelsea were relegated in that season.
- Only Sunderland (18) have conceded more Premier League goals than Chelsea this season. Sunderland are bottom.
- The Southampton result was only Jose Mourinho’s seventh home league defeat as a football manager.
- Mourinho has lost five of his last 10 Premier League games. Prior to that, he'd lost only five of the previous 59.
- After two games of the season: Played two, won 0, Mourinho insisted it was he who should take the blame, not his players. After the latest debacle at home to Southampton, he was busy pointing fingers from defence to attack.
In short, Mourinho’s numbers no longer add up, and Blues owner Roman Abramovich will have one eye on these frightening figures.
Mourinho’s high-stakes brinkmanship could come back to bite him