Following their Premier League title triumph of last season, if you had said to any Blues supporter in the midst of their celebrations that after nine games of the new campaign that they’d be down in eleventh place, they’d have thought something was wrong with you!
But that is where Jose Mourinho’s side currently find themselves although they were back to winning ways, claiming only their third victory of the new season against Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.
One of the key talking points around the fixture was the benching of Eden Hazard, not to mention Nemanja Matic who was replaced by up-and-coming talent Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the starting eleven.
Branislav Ivanovic also missed the fixture through injury with Cesar Azpilicueta reverting to right back and Baba Rahman coming in at left back, although Chelsea supporters will probably tell you this was a positive following a downright awful campaign from the Serbian so far.
After the fixture, Jose Mourinho maintained that the club will take each game at a time without thinking about the title race just yet and with the Blues still in the bottom half at present, this has to be the way to go.
But with January only three months away, we’ve seen the Blues linked with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain’s Javier Pastore and Sevilla’s Yevhen Konoplyanka in recent days and if arrivals such as this are to come in, perhaps some members of the current squad will need to be exiting in the other direction.
That’s why we’ve devised a five-man list of the Chelsea players Mourinho needs to axe at Stamford Bridge in January.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five players Jose Mourinho needs to axe at Chelsea in January.
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Radamel Falcao
It looked a terrible signing from the off and so it is proving to be for Radamel Falcao.
With Manchester United supporters having witnessed the demise of the former great player last season in a hugely disappointing four-goal campaign with the Red Devils, Chelsea supporters are witnessing their own sorry version at the minute.
Nothing more than a sub who is often granted twenty minuets here and there in the second half to make an impact, Falcao has only really done that against Crystal Palace where he grabbed an equaliser only for Chelsea to surrender this comeback late on.
With Chelsea very much in a current state of needing to be ruthless to haul themselves up the table, the likes of Falcao simply won’t do and recent reports back this up claiming Jose Mourinho hasn’t ruled out an early loan termination in January.
Papy Djilobodji
Like the signing of Radamel Falcao, this was another on deadline day that seemed doomed from the off simply because he was a player Chelsea didn’t really want deep down.
Having seen their efforts to land Paris Saint-Germain’s Marquinhos rebuffed on September 1st, Chelsea then swooped to sign a plan B in the Senegalese international from Nantes but ever since, he’s only been an unused substitute once – in the Blues’ Capital One Cup third round fixture with Walsall away.
What’s more, we also read since Djilobodji’s signing was one that Jose Mourinho didn’t even sanction himself so what chance has the player got now under a boss that never really wanted him?
It’s a sorry state of affairs for the player himself in modern-day football but if Chelsea have more luck in trying to sign the likes of John Stones or Marquinhos in the January transfer window, you can see Djilobodji making a swift return to Ligue 1 or elsewhere.
Branislav Ivanovic
While most still couldn’t see Jose Mourinho parting with such a Chelsea stalwart that Branislav Ivanovic is in January, you perhaps couldn’t begrudge him doing so, such has been the dramatic fall from grace regarding his individual performances this term compared to last.
With Blues supporters turning on the Serbian international quicker than Eden Hazard turns opposition defenders in full flow, Ivanovic has been public enemy number one this term due to many of the goals the Blues have conceded being his fault.
Looking a yard off the pace for pretty much all of the season so far, Chelsea supporters got to see Cesar Azpilicueta back at right back against Aston Villa on Saturday due to an Ivanovic injury although Blues fans didn’t miss the Serb.
Given all of the fantastic performances he’s produced for Chelsea down the years, to part with him in January would be harsh but at the minute, there is no room for sentiment as the Blues look to haul themselves back into the title race.
Bertrand Traore
As is well documented nowadays, Chelsea have an incredible amount of young players out on loan around England and in Europe and one current Blues first team star that probably should’ve completed another for the sake of his own game time is Bertrand Traore.
Having impressed massively out on loan at Vitesse Arnhem of the Eredivisie for the past two seasons, the Burkina Faso international smashed in a mightily impressive 17 goals in 48 overall league appearances and this was reason enough for Jose Mourinho to make the rare decision to bring him back into the Chelsea first team after initial work permit issues.
But having got his big chance in London, it has rarely been a chance at all with Traore having yet to make an appearance in any competition this season so far, being an an unused substitute against West Bromwich Albion, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Walsall.
Given he has obvious potential, yet just isn’t being relied upon right now to help the Blues out of their current slumber, we think another loan move beckons in January to potentially make room for a new attack-minded signing.
John Obi Mikel
An additional position where some Chelsea supporters would like to see a new signing brought in is actually in central midfield with Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas flattering to deceive so far this season.
Behind these two are of course Ramires and John Obi Mikel with the long-serving latter player having been able to only start three times in the Premier League this season despite the aforementioned pairs’ fall from grace.
We think this says something about how much faith Jose Mourinho has in Mikel who for a little while now has been a player who some Chelsea fans think the club can upgrade upon.
A staple part of the Blues team that went on to win the Champions League under Roberto Di Matteo a few seasons back, we don’t think the Nigerian international will be anything more than a bit-part player going forward and if Chelsea decide to pursue the likes of Axel Witsel in January, he could become surplus to requirements.
