Chelsea’s shocking run of form in numbers
Before their trip to Anfield on 7th of November, Chelsea were the team to beat; fast forward and after another month, they are the team most likely to get beaten. Chelsea seemed to be running away with the league title in their back pocket and
with the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal struggling to get a run of wins under their belt; it seemed to be all over by November.
However, Chelsea have somehow managed to produce form of a team fighting for relegation and have let their rivals catch and in fact overtake them. Arsenal and Manchester United have not been in any sort of special form themselves, but due to the shocking
form shown by Chelsea, they find themselves very much back in the title race.
The month of November has been one to forget for Chelsea players and fans. The abysmal turn of form has been cited to the departure of Ray Wilkins by some quarters and in truth it has coincided perfectly with his departure.
Chelsea’s first game without him ended in an embarrassing 2-0 defeat at the hands of an out of sorts Liverpool. Since then, Chelsea have been all over the place. The loss of Lampard, Essien and Terry has been felt and has clearly exposed the lack of strength
in depth in the current Chelsea squad.
Chelsea let go the likes of Ballack, Deco, Belletti, Carvalho and Joe Cole last summer and replaced them with Ramires and Yossi Benayoun. This clearly wasn’t a clever piece of business by Roman Abramovic.
Bettor.com can reveal some really interesting stats for Chelsea in 2010. They have been a cut above the rest in the league up until their slump, which started after a Fernando Torres double at Anfield. The tables below show Chelsea’s performance in 2010
in all competitions:
Played
Won
Drawn
Lost
For
Against
Points
Win%
Chelsea
42
31
3
8
118
32
96
73.8
This is Chelsea’s record in 2010 before their game against Liverpool. We now look at their record since then:
Played
Won
Drawn
Lost
For
Against
Points
Win%
Chelsea
8
2
2
4
5
10
6
25
These tables are bound to take any sort of a smile off any Chelsea fan. It is sorry reading for the champions and the problem for them is that their current plight doesn’t seem to be coming to an end.
Last week, the return of Essien and Terry failed to inspire Chelsea to all three points. Frank Lampard is their last hope now but Lampard must know that he has got his work cut out, if the following stats are due to his absence:
Chelsea’s points per game of 2.28 were best amongst all teams but it has dropped down to 0.75 since their slump.
4 players had found the back of the net more than 15 times or more in 2010 before 7th November. Amongst them Didier Drogba (25), Frank Lampard (21), Florent Malouda (18), and Nicolas Anelka (17). Since their demise these four players have scored
1, 0, 1 and 0 respectively. However, Frank Lampard can be forgiven since he hasn’t played a game during this period.
2.81 were their goals per game which has now dropped to 0.62 only. Chelsea had lost 19 percent of their games prior to their defeat at the hands of Liverpool. That stat has now jumped up to 50.
Chelsea have failed to win 2 games in a row since the beginning of their slump.
Chelsea have not won an away game in their last 4 away matches. This stat was pretty much unknown since the start of the year.
With a trip to White Hart Lane in the waiting, Chelsea fans would be dreading the timing of such a meeting. Lampard is again set to miss out and one wonders where the creativity will come from, especially with both Drogba and Malouda in complete shambles.
A win can do wonders for Chelsea and with a tough run of games coming thick and fast; December could well prove to be the decisive month in the race for the Premier League crown.
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