To put it quite simply, Chelsea are in absolute crisis right now with their form showing no real signs of turning around for the better.
If you had said to Blues supporters in the midst of their title celebrations at Stamford Bridge last term that they’d be three points off the Premier League relegation zone with 12 games played in 2015/16, they’d probably have laughed you out of town.
But that is the cold, hard reality for Jose Mourinho’s side this term who actually played rather well at Stoke City away on the weekend; it just seems as if everything is conspiring against the side from West London this term.
Some are putting the dramatic fall from grace down to Mourinho giving now sacked dcotor Eva Carneiro a very public dressing down at the start of the season with players potentially not trying for the manager after these flippant actions because other than that flashpoint, why else would these players have gone off the boil so badly?
Since that pressure cooker moment of inter-club relations, we’ve seen Mourinho employ an us versus them mentality against referees in particularly and it seems his appeals – often just – have been a case of the boy crying wolf too many times that officials are actually going against the Blues nowadays.
With all this negativity swirling around the club at the moment, a new top signing in January could help lift the mood somewhat and one man The Independent claim Chelsea are preparing a move for today is Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain.
With Mourinho working with the forward in his time at Real Madrid, the striker would be much welcomed in West London but the same reports claim a deal might not be likely until next summer.
Nevertheless, we’re taking this moment to stick Higuain in what we believe to be the best Chelsea XI on paper right now.
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Click on the image below to reveal the best Chelsea XI under Jose Mourinho including Gonzalo Higuain.
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Thibaut Courtois
While Asmir Begovic has done well on occasions, the sheer fact of the matter is that Thibaut Courtois is the better stopper and may have contributed to the Blues shipping less goals this term, such is the calibre of the goalkeeper.
In truth, Chelsea’s defence has left Begovic exposed multiple times this season and Courtois might have struggled too but given the shovel-handed performances we saw from the Belgian last term, the Blues will be a stronger outfit when they have their former Atletico Madrid loanee to call upon again.
Cesar Azpilicueta
With Branislav Ivanovic having been one of the worst performing Chelsea stars so far this season, many Blues were calling for the Serbian international to be dropped and this is now the case under Jose Mourinho.
With Cesar Azpilicueta reverting to his usual spot at right back, the Spaniard has been one of few Chelsea players who have been relatively consistent this term although the former Marseille man would admit that both he and his team-mates can do much better.
Gary Cahill
One of the Chelsea players that at least looks up for a fight is Gary Cahill who has of course won everything there is to win at club level in his time spent in West London so far.
Right now, it doesn’t look as if he’ll be adding another trophy to his glittering Blues spell this season but as we saw in the recent away game at West Ham United, Cahill is one of those players who gives 110 per cent.
In fairness to both he and John Terry, although the pair have made mistakes this term, they haven’t been adequately protected by the defensive midfielders sitting in front of them.
John Terry
Enjoying a very public Twitter spat with BT Sport pundit Robbie Savage last week whereby Terry basically claimed he doesn’t respect the opinion of the former Welsh international, the Chelsea defender ultimately ended up on the losing side again on Saturday evening.
Little mistakes are costing the Blues and badly at the moment and as the player alluded to himself recently, it’s very easy to point the age factor at Terry at the moment.
That said, perhaps age and probably confidence loss as well may be catching up with Terry who simply watched Christian Benteke ghost into the Chelsea goalmouth to score a third goal at Stamford Bridge recently.
Nevertheless, with Kurt Zouma still learning, Chelsea must stick with their experienced players to get them out of this mess and Terry is certainly one of those.
Baba Rahman
To be fair, summer signing Baba Rahman hasn’t blown anybody away in his short Chelsea career to date but simply given the loss in form of Branislav Ivanovic, we’re including the Ghanaian international with Azpilicueta reverting to right back.
Always a much talked about topic, Chelsea controversially have an incredible amount of players out on loan at the moment and some Blues supporters are questioning why the club continues to sign the likes of Baba and Papy Djilobodji when there’s players like Nathan Ake who could surely make the step up?
Ake has actually been impressing well on loan at Watford and Chelsea supporters can’t think why it seems to take Blues youngsters that much longer to step into the first team.
After all, could they do a lot worse than a lot of the under-performing first team members right now?
Nemanja Matic
Alongside his Serbian international team-mate Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic has been another whose form is an absolute shadow of his previous self this season.
One of the players who has been dropped out of the team by Jose Mourinho on occasions, you can see why with the usually sturdy Matic failing to protect Chelsea’s back four with laboured performances in central midfield.
With a stunning goal away at Everton proving the only highlight of his campaign so far, Matic needs to up his gam and quick but based upon what we’ve seen of him last season and prior to that, he’s a quality player deep down.
Cesc Fabregas
Like so many other Chelsea players this term, Cesc Fabregas is another whose consistency in performances just hasn’t been good enough.
You’d expect so much more from the former Arsenal captain who in the early part of last season in tandem with Diego Costa looked an untameable force in the Blues’ midfield.
Fast forward to autumn 2015 however and Fabregas is somebody who looks jaded and far from being on top of his game.
Like Matic and the others, he’s capable of so much better as we know but he’ll have to graft to get Chelsea out of their current plight.
Pedro
The high-profile summer signing from Barcelona started so well with his inspiring performance away at West Bromwich Albion but since then, it’s all been rather forgettable for the Spanish international.
Missing sections of the season so far through injury it must be said, Pedro hasn’t really built upon his impressive debut, often looking out of sorts in the Chelsea team while flashing many opportunities over the bar or wide.
Having been used to such success at Barcelona, Pedro is in uncharted territory right now like Blues boss Jose Mourinho and he’ll just have to try and use his skill to get the Blues out of the mire.
Willian
Probably Chelsea’s best player so far this season, Willian has continued to want to get on the ball while creating chances and scoring, and the Brazilian deserves a lot of credit for that.
Often lamented by Chelsea supporters for a poor final ball last season, Willian has stepped up his game when the going has got tough this term and Blues fans have recognised this.
Usually deployed on the right wing by Mourinho where he can use his pace to track back as well as attacking, we’re deploying Willian in the number 10 role where he can also flourish.
This accomodates Pedro, not to mention replacing Oscar who has gone off the boil badly after a good initial start in English football.
Eden Hazard
Last season’s PFA Player of the Year looks anything but this season with Eden Hazard’s drop in form perhaps being the most alarming for some Chelsea supporters.
The player who has received the brunt of Jose Mourinho’s disappointment so far this season with the Portuguese opting to drop the usually fearless Hazard on several occasions, we just don’t know what has happened to the player.
Missing a penalty in recent international duty with Belgium to boot, Hazard is devoid of confidence right now but being such a quality player deep down, he has to turn it around soon, doesn’t he?
Chelsea fans will sure hope so for the sake of their club saving some face come the end of the 2015/16 season.
Gonzalo Higuain
And so, this Chelsea eleven is headed off by the man Jose Mourinho reportedly has designs on signing right now according to The Independent.
Gonzalo Higuain has been linked with a Chelsea switch frequently after departing Real Madrid but the Argentine marksman still resides at Napoli for the time being.
According to reports, a transfer is unlikely in January with next summer proving a much more realistic propositiion but how Chelsea could do with a boost up front now!
Radamel Falcao has proved himself to be a waste of space so far, Loic Remy only really negotiates bit-part status and Diego Costa has been awful, seemingly only intent on ruffing up the opposition with little else in front of goal.
Therefore, a new January striking addition wouldn’t go amiss but you can’t see Napoli – who have played hardball over Higuain so regularly – giving up their star striker in two months’ time.
