"Winning the title this year would be a greater achievement than before, yes, I think so," commented Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho in his post-match interview after his side beat Southampton at the weekend, and how right he is, mainly because it looks unlikely that the club will win the league. The Blues have looked decidedly shaky this season, and despite the fact that their games have in the main ended in victories, there has been the odd uncharacteristic slip up, and games that shouldn't have gone their way have done. Whether it's a Joe Hart error in the final minute to allow for a late Chelsea winner or a dubious penalty award in similar late circumstances against West Brom, the Blues have been dug out of a hole on more than one occasion. The fear factor that came with Mourinho's first tenure at Stamford Bridge has seemingly deserted him, with sides prepared to take his team on, and succeeding in the case of Swiss side Basel, who have beaten the Blues home and away in the Champions League this season. But how about the Premier League? A competition that the club have won just once since Mourinho left the post in 2007, with Carlo Ancelotti's triumph in the 2009/10 season followed by seasons of simply qualifying for the Champions League. How can the club come back into contention after performing relatively poorly in recent seasons allowing the clubs from Manchester to dominate the landscape for the past three years? The answer according to owner Roman Abramovic was to bring in a tried and tested coach who had won the league two seasons running, and the Portuguese coach returned to the club where he felt loved. However, the honeymoon period is over and despite being second in the Premier League just four points behind league leaders Arsenal, the Blues are looking so iffy that a fifth league title looks like it will desert them once more.
Began writing about football aged 16, I've previously worked for Goal and I'm currently writing for Inside Spanish Football. Specialise in anything linked, connected with or involving football!
