The race for the Premier League Top 4 ended after the round 32 make-up match between Manchester United and Chelsea. President Todd Boehly confidently said in April that Chelsea still have a chance to enter the Top 4, but they are now struggling in the bottom half of the rankings.
Before the closing round, Chelsea were 27 and 29 points behind Newcastle and Man United. They are even closer to the relegation zone than the Top 9. More notably, when deciding to fire coach Thomas Tuchel, The Blues are ranked 6th...
This season, Chelsea has changed coaches three times, recruiting 16 new players with a total value of more than 600 million pounds. Graham Potter replaced Frank Lampard and made Chelsea a mid-table team, and the result was even worse when Lampard returned. In all competitions, Chelsea have scored only 22 goals in their last 31 matches. The Blues' attack is truly having a forgettable season.
Up to now, even the most optimistic fans have had to admit that the dream of bringing Lampard back to overcome Real Madrid in the Champions League is a nightmare one. Perhaps that is not surprising as even Boehly predicted Chelsea would win 3-0 in the second leg. And as a result, Chelsea lost all to Los Blancos.
Since then, Chelsea have scored 8 goals and conceded 20. In the Premier League, they will definitely end the season with a negative goal difference, unless they win by 9 goals in the final round.
Chelsea may not be the worst team in the Premier League this season, but they lost to Southampton - a team that has been relegated twice. The Blues have faced the current Premier League Top 10 19 times and have won just 1 match.
A irony is that Chelsea have a series of expensive players but their standards are seriously declining. Lampard himself has admitted this.
Spending more than £600 million, Chelsea's best player of the season is Thiago Silva, a rookie who joined on a free transfer. While 18-year-old talent Lewis Hall has had more impressive performances than Marc Cucurella, a £62 million rookie.
Meanwhile, Wesley Fofana, a £70 million centre-back, has continuously "given" goals to opponents with poor passes. Mykhailo Mudryk - the £88 million striker has not had any goals so far.
Joao Felix is also Chelsea's unsuccessful loan deal, costing up to 16 million pounds - a typical example of The Blues' "burning money".
To rebuild and streamline the squad, selling players is a must for Chelsea. However, the value of new players in the last 2 transfers such as Raheem Sterling, kalidou Koulibaly, Enzo Fernandez, Fofana, Aubameyang, Cucurella has decreased significantly.
Chelsea have plunged into a downward spiral, have talent but are not connected enough, lack consistency and goals. Pochettino will inherit a mess at Chelsea after this season...
