The second interim spell at Chelsea under Guus Hiddink started in the best possible fashion last Saturday as the Blues ran out comfortable 3-1 winners over a poor Sunderland side.
With the Dutchman watching from the stands alongside Didier Drogba and Roman Abramovich, Stamford Bridge was vociferously electric with chants of Jose Mourinho’s name throughout the 90 minutes with Chelsea supporters solely blaming the players for their embarrassing Premier League campaign so far.
With Hiddink having only suffered one defeat in his last spell with the Blues, despite their disappointment at Mourinho’s departure, many Chelsea fans admit that Hiddink is a favourable name to come in at their time of need.
An extremely experienced manager who will command the respect of the playing staff, Chelsea face a home game against Watford on Boxing Day that will truly test the Blues’ mettle with Quique Sanchez Flores’ side enjoying the league season of their lives.
Last weekend however, several members of Chelsea’s first team seemed to step it up a number of levels, none more so than Oscar who was absolutely sensational on the day.
Despite being a huge contributor in the Blues winning a much-needed three points, our Chelsea fans in the tavern can’t help but feel betrayed that these kind of performances just weren’t seen from the Brazilian under Mourinho.
It remains to be seen where Chelsea can get to in the league under Hiddink this term but with the Watford game in prospect, we’re taking this moment to list the five best Blues strikes from the 2015/16 campaign so far.
Do you agree with our choices?
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Click on the image below to reveal the five best Chelsea goals so far this 2015/16 season.
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Ramires vs Newcastle United (A)
In recent seasons, Chelsea have never enjoyed travelling away to Newcastle United despite the Magpies’ mediocrity and so it proved again back in late September when Steve McClaren’s men got themselves into a 2-0 lead by the hour mark.
Although a draw wouldn’t have been considered good enough by Blues fans’ standards pre kick-off, they would’ve definitely taken it from that moment and luckily enough, two goals in the final 11 minutes of regular time from Ramires and Willian rescued a point.
But it was Ramires’ initial consolation strike that was a real beauty with the Brazilian picking the ball up from distance before absolutely rifling it past Tim Krul who had no chance in the Magpies’ net.
Diego Costa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (H)
By all accounts, it’s been an embarrassing 2015/16 season for Diego Costa on the goalscoring front with the Spanish international having struck just FOUR goals in all competitions.
A shadow of his former self last season whereby both he and Cesc Fabregas were devaststing in the early part of the campaign, unfortunately for Blues fans, Costa has been far more interested in controversy with little else to show from his appearances this term.
That said, Costa did still score a spectacular volley against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge back in September.
With many of the Blues’ better performances coming in the European competition, it was Costa’s sublime volley that put Chelsea into a 3-0 lead against the Israeli side before Cesc Fabregas added some further gloss late on.
Willian vs FC Porto (A)
Ask any Chelsea supporter who their best player has been this term and they’ll unanimously respond Willian.
In a season whereby so many Blues players haven’t looked interested in showing they’re up for the fight with their obvious quality that has been inhibited for whatever reason, Willian has single-handedly kept his good level of performances up.
Always playing on the front foot, Willian has been one of few who hasn’t been scared to get on the ball and Chelsea fans have been crying out for fouls on the edge of the opposition box given his quality from free-kicks.
We saw this away at Porto in late September where despite going down 2-1, Blues fans rose to their feet in celebration in first-half stoppage time after a fantastic curling set-piece from their number 22.
Nemanja Matic vs Everton (A)
Back in September where Chelsea suffered their third Premier League loss of the season against Everton at Goodison Park, you got the sense that this season was turning into a huge crisis for the men from West London.
Not even starting the game on Merseyside that day, it was Steven Naismith who proved the undoubted man of the match after coming on as a first-half substitute and netting a hat-trick but it could’ve all been so different for the Blues.
Grabbing a consolation goal on 36 minutes through an absolutely unstoppable arching effort from Nemanja Matic from range, it was an effort that had everybody standing up and applauding the strike here in the tavern.
Unfortunately for Blues fans however, this was all their celebrated on a dour day up in Liverpool.
Willian vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (A)
We’ve already included Willian’s superb free-kick against Porto in the Champions League this term but we couldn’t leave without reflecting upon this strike too.
In similar fashion the Brazilian international absolutely rooted Maccabi Tel Aviv goalkeeper Predrag Rajokovic in the second group game between the pair in late November.
Beating the Israeli side 8-0 on aggregate over the two legs, Willian’s 73rd minute strike that put Jose Mourinho’s men 0-2 up was so good that Rajkovic didn’t even move.
