While much of the early-season crisis talk has centred on Manchester United and Liverpool, Chelsea have quietly slipped below their biggest Premier League rivals, finding themselves ninth after nine games. Consistently inconsistent, Saturday's shock home defeat to Sunderland has left them at a crossroads, with plenty of issues to address if they are to avoid their season drifting into mediocrity.
"I think in general we were not good enough," head coach Enzo Maresca said in the wake of the oh-so-predictable late 2-1 loss to the newly-promoted Black Cats, where his side had been second-best throughout. "When you are not good enough in the Premier League we know that the consequences can be bad. I have said many times, when you are not able to win, it is important you do not lose."
That third defeat in nine games has deservedly left Chelsea down in mid-table, with no-one really sure of what the league's youngest squad is capable of; they feel as close to a full-blown crisis as they do to mounting a push for a top-four place.
Maresca, then, has plenty of work to do, but time is on his side and the fixture list could provide him with the ideal opportunity for the Blues to kickstart their campaign.
AFPWin against 'lesser' opposition
It's Chelsea's inability to overcome the teams that, on paper, they should be beating that has cost them dearly so far this season, with the agonising late home defeat to newly-promoted Sunderland at the weekend just the latest example of Maresca's side failing to impose themselves as favourites.
The Blues have now dropped points in uninspiring performances against Crystal Palace, Brentford, Manchester United (when Ruben Amorim's men were in the depths of their early-season woes), Brighton and the Black Cats, with the latter three results all defeats. Those struggles were belied, though, by the rousing victory over champions Liverpool before the October international break.
The head coach is acutely aware they need to find some consistency, regardless of the opposition. "For sure, if you want to be there (a top team), you need consistency, something that winning four in a row and today’s game (against Sunderland), you can probably show that," Maresca said in the wake of the latest disappointment. "But because we lost points, we did not show that.
"If we can have that level (raises his hand high in the air) and this level (drops his hand much lower), probably it is better to have something in between. I think overall, since we started (the season), we performed much better compared to today’s game. We were not good enough. We did not create a lot, apart from the goal probably, and we struggled. We need our players to perform 100 per cent."
AdvertisementGetty Images SportMake Stamford Bridge a fortress
To make matters worse, the draw with Palace and defeats to Brighton and Sunderland all came at Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea were wholly unconvincing in the fortunate home wins over Fulham in the Premier League and Benfica in the Champions League. A home league record of two wins, one draw and two defeats simply isn't good enough.
Long gone are the days when Jose Mourinho made the Bridge an impregnable fortress across his two spells in the dugout, going 60 and later 77 home games unbeaten, but the Blues – and indeed their fans – must find a way to make their opponents fear visiting their stadium once again.
Perhaps a hangover from the club's struggles in recent years since the Boehly-Clearlake takeover, the atmosphere at the Bridge can sour quickly if things aren't going Chelsea's way. The collective groans and bursts of frustration from the stands visibly sap the confidence of the players on the pitch, with the young squad undoubtedly finding it difficult to step up in the face of vociferous criticism from their own supporters.
The victory over Liverpool – Chelsea's best performance of the season so far by some distance – demonstrated the power of their home crowd as Maresca's men were willed over the line by a raucous atmosphere that fuelled a late onslaught, eventually yielding a euphoric injury-time winner from Estevao Willian.
Getty Images SportStart stronger
So far this season, Chelsea have developed an unwanted reputation for being slow starters, with their sluggishness out of the blocks enabling their opponents to get on top of them and set the tone.
That was the case against West Ham, Fulham, Brentford and Manchester United, as well as Nottingham Forest and Ajax more recently, with an early red card for the Dutch giants significantly aiding their cause in that Champions League clash.
With the youngest squad in the Premier League, the widely-held view is that Chelsea lack the experience and know-how to manage games for the full 90 minutes, and the need to rotate because of injuries and the more demanding schedule are certainly playing their part following the club's return to the Champions League, but the Blues still must find a way to impose themselves early in games and use that momentum. Too often they are finding their supposed authority undermined from the first whistle.
Getty Images SportDisciplinary issue
It's well documented that discipline has been a serious and debilitating issue for Chelsea in the opening few months of 2025-26, with the Blues ridiculously seeing red in four out of the six games they played in all competitions between September 20 and October 18.
Those misdemeanours were particularly costly in the consecutive league defeats to Manchester United and Brighton; Robert Sanchez was dismissed just five minutes into the former at Old Trafford with the scores goalless after charging out of his goal and clattering into Bryan Mbeumo, while Trevoh Chalobah was sent off for a last-man foul early in the second period in the latter when Chelsea were 1-0 up.
On both occasions, Maresca's side were unable to cope with the one-man deficit, as United went on to establish an insurmountable first-half lead and Brighton pulled level late on before bagging a stoppage-time winner of their own.
Having initially insisted Chelsea's indiscipline wasn't a problem, the head coach admitted after the most recent incident (Malo Gusto's needless red card at Nottingham Forest): "It's something that we can do better. The last one (Gusto's) is completely avoidable, because it’s 0-3, the game is finished. For sure there is something that we have to improve."