Shortly before Christmas, off the back of a poor run but following qualification for the last 16 of the CL, this column wondered if the season could turn out to be something special (see Special Ones Too). And it certainly has, but not in a good way. A slew of defeats, players who don’t seem to be bothered about putting in a shift but are only too happy to collect their 000s of Ks every week, and continued reports in the media of problems in the dressing room culminated in yesterday’s abject performance at West Bromwich Albion, resulting in the dismissal today of Andreas Villas Boas, less than 9 months after his appointment as Chelsea manager.

As someone who has never received football coaching in their life, it is difficult for me to comment on the mechanics of a performance. All I see is players passing the ball. Whilst I’m au fait with systems and styles, like a typical woman, I prefer incidents to statistics. In spite of being there, I couldn’t tell you who scored our goals in the 3-2 defeat at Man Utd in September, but I remember Ian Marshall of Leicester pulling a hammy whilst trying to nutmeg Albert Ferrer in front of the still unroofed West Stand and getting celery chucked at him in about 1999. So I’m not really the one to say whether AVB didn’t know what he was doing on the tactics front. All I know that he failed to pull on a shirt in any of our games recently. Whilst the buck stops with the manager, our players have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves how much they have contributed to letting the fans down.

It is not the first time player power has hastened the demise of a manager at Chelsea. As long ago as 2000, Gianluca Vialli lost the dressing room, and at the time when a revised Bosman ruling was being threatened resulting in contracts no longer being worth the paper they were written on, Ken Bates and Colin Hutchinson were presented with a “him or us” ultimatum by a number of players (this was confirmed to me by the respected Italian journalist Giancarlo Galivotti several years ago). Whilst Franck Leboeuf attracted most of the opprobrium directed at the players on this occasion, he was certainly not the only one involved and even tried to offload the blame on Gianfranco Zola – in a radio interview on the day of his last game at Chelsea, he commented “Gianfranco has much more power at Chelsea than me”. Indeed, Vialli’s own comments on Twitter today hint at a frosty relationship with the club’s new caretaker manager, Roberto di Matteo.

Stories about player unrest have abounded in the press recently, usually attributed to a “senior player”. I hope whoever he is, he will now expend his energies for the rest of the season in galvanising his team-mates to get their fingers out. The decision to appoint di Matteo as caretaker manager until the end of the season is an indication that Chelsea have a clear target in mind but need to wait until the end of the season. Were that not the case, either Benitez or Capello, both free agents, would have been appointed today. Given Jose Mourinho’s very public visit to London last week, combined with news of a further alleged visit on Monday, and information provided by a source to this column that Mourinho and Abramovich had dinner at a top London hotel last week, last week’s article “Return of the Special One” may yet prove to have been barking up the right tree.

As usual, the ones suffering most at this time are the fans. I know people who set off for Albion at 6am and reckoned they weren’t going to get home till midnight. Approximately 1600 hardy souls travelled to Napoli two weeks ago. As I write, Chelsea lie fifth in the premiership and no doubt there are those amongst the inter-continental support (and possibly one or two in the UK) who have decided that the club are so last decade, and transferred their support elsewhere. These are the very people that our CEO is keen on cultivating at the expense of those who invest their time and emotion, not to mention maxing out their credit cards, on supporting CFC in the flesh and not through the medium of their television.

I think the last time I felt so low about a manager was, surprisingly, the day Ruudi was sacked (when Jose left I was in an emotional maelstrom, and when Luca was sacked I was so ill that if Ken Bates had turned up to announce the news in person I probably wouldn’t have turned a hair). However, we Chels are a resillient lot. Whilst I’d be surprised if we sell out Birmingham away, the faithful will be out in force and giving 100% of their passion to the cause. Let’s hope the players can do the same.

An inevitable consequence of a spell of poor form or a season where expectations are not being met is the media’s take on the cause of the maladies.

Typically, the woes will be attributed to dressing room discontent and the notion that the manager has ‘lost’ his players, no longer commanding their respect.

True to form, this is currently the case with Andre Villas-Boas and Chelsea. The club’s worst season in any recent memory has fans and journalists alike scrambling to determine the reason things have gone so badly wrong.

Rightly or wrongly, many are led by the wordsmiths paid to deliver their ‘expert’ opinions to the masses on a daily basis and the knives are firmly out for the Blues’ ‘old guard’. ‘Player Power’ is once again in vogue as the explanation du jour.

Messrs Lampard, Terry, Cole, Drogba (and occasionally Cech) are personas non grata and, all being the wrong side of 30 in football terms, must be cast aside for the long-term good of the club.

Villas-Boas was hired for what he terms a ‘project’, an overhaul of an ageing and stale first-team squad and the implementation of an expressive, attractive style of football we’re told Roman Abramovich desperately craves.

There is no doubt that this needs to happen and inevitably will, but after another sorry night in a very sorry season, opinion remains split as to who is ultimately to blame; the players or the manager?

A simple answer is to suggest both are, and certainly blame must be apportioned appropriately with failures on every level on and off the field this season.

Yet the veteran contingent continue to be victimised amidst claims that Villas-Boas cannot truly begin to rebuild Chelsea until their excessive influence and ego is long gone and forgotten.

In Naples on Tuesday night, there were starts for Cech and Drogba but not for Cole and for Lampard, whilst captain Terry is set for an operation which will extend his absence to a rough total of three months.

Drogba has only just returned from international duty, whilst Lampard can hardly be called an ever-present under the new Portuguese manager, missing more games through ‘technical decisions’ than at any stage of his Chelsea career. The core of the team is, slowly, being dismantled, whether by design or by circumstance.

And what do we have to show for it? Fifth place, an FA Cup replay against a Championship club and an uphill battle to continue in the Champions League.

In a rain-sodden San Paolo Stadium, Chelsea capitulated with Villas-Boas’ tactics (not) being executed by Villas-Boas’ signings – Cahill, Meireles, Mata – and his regulars Luiz, Ivanovic, Bosingwa/Cole, Sturridge and Ramires.

It would be remarkably churlish to suggest that some amongst that group lack talent and whilst there are obvious names who have a bleak future at Stamford Bridge, make no mistake about it: this was the manager’s team playing the manager’s way.

There was no negative influence being exhibited by rogue agents on the pitch, and whatever their dressing room influence may be, morale can hardly be high after this most disappointing of campaigns anyway.

Italian journalists reported post-match that some Chelsea players were ignoring their manager’s instructions in the closing moments of the game. Having been bold, cavalier and even a little bit reckless earlier in the season, Villas-Boas has arguably become uncertain of himself, and whereas naivety may once have been an excuse, each passing game begs increasingly pertinent questions.

Why limit Ramires’ game by asking him to play horizontally rather than vertically? Why pair him in defensive midfield with Raul Meireles, who has consistently shown that he lacks positional awareness? Why not John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien or Oriol Romeu, players far more suited to doing the job required?

Why the persistence with players who are clearly not playing to the required standard? Why renege on your very obvious tactical philosophies mid-season after the first signs of trouble rather than press on with the change you so obviously want to make? Confusion now reigns, respect is being lost and your job is increasingly under threat.

This Chelsea team is better than its current state. International quality players not far removed from a domestic double achieved in record-breaking style now defend in kamikaze fashion, attack with stagnant predictability and have little in terms of confidence. Morale is shattered.

A transitional season can only be described as such if it is has a positive direction, else it’s a waste of a season. For the sake of stability it might be sensible to retain Villas-Boas and let him continue with his project, but for the sake of the club, maybe it’s not.

Leadership must be decisive, not uncertain. The only decisive behaviour we’ve seen this season has been from the very players who have been criticised and blamed for the decline. Meanwhile, the real leader appears as uncertain as at any point in his brief managerial career.

Big decisions lie ahead.

OK, so Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Wigan on Saturday evening wasn’t exactly ridiculous, but a collection of errors saw the Blues contrive to throw away what should have been a routine three points.

After a fantastic performance against Manchester City on Monday night, a trip to a cold and snowy Wigan was always bound to be somewhat anticlimactic but from a position of relative strength after Daniel Sturridge’s second half opener, Chelsea allowed Jordi Gomez to equalise just moments from time to hand the hosts just a sixth home point of the campaign.

Andre Villas-Boas made just one change from Monday’s victorious eleven, restoring Frank Lampard to the midfield in place of Ramires, who was struggling with an injury.

David Luiz was eligible to return from a one-match suspension but he was left out as a precaution after also feeling a knock this week. Both Brazilians are said to be likely starters away to Tottenham next Thursday.

Wigan switched to an unfamiliar 5-3-2 formation with midfielder David Jones in an unfamiliar role at left back, whilst Victor Moses supported Connor Sammon up front.

The hosts set out their stall to make things hard for Chelsea, who had racked up 15 unanswered goals in their last three meetings with the Latics, and defended deep and in numbers.

It was to prove a successful approach, as a lethargic Chelsea side struggled without the direct running and remarkable endurance of Ramires in the midfield and lacked penetration throughout the first half.

A stooping header from Didier Drogba and a speculative volley by Oriol Romeu both went the wrong side of Ali Al-Habsi’s right hand post, whilst John Terry’s ambitious long-range effort flew wide the other side.

Wigan meanwhile had two penalty appeals fall on deaf ears as Martin Atkinson saw no infringements first on Jordi Gomez and then against Branislav Ivanovic, who saw a Moses effort hit a hand which was close to his body.

After an uninspiring opening gambit, Villas-Boas introduced Salomon Kalou for the second half, replacing Romeu, who was barely needed with Wigan preferring to attack only on the break.

The Ivorian immediately showed signs of life, shooting wide and creating a half-chance for compatriot Drogba within moments of his arrival.

Frank Lampard received a bloody mouth in a tussle with Maynor Figueroa but whilst the England international was receiving treatment on the touchline, his teammates fashioned a deserved lead.

Ashley Cole’s inch-perfect cross-field pass picked out Sturridge, who had escaped the attentions of his marker long enough to be able to trap the ball and fire a right-footed effort beyond the reach of Al-Habsi from a tight angle.

It was Sturridge’s ninth goal of the season, making him the club’s leading scorer in 2011-12.

With the lead safely secured Villas-Boas set about preserving it, reverting to his base formation by replacing Mata with John Obi Mikel. Roberto Martinez countered by throwing Franco Di Santo and Hugo Rodallega into the mix.

Spurred on by Chelsea’s apparent contentness with their slender advantage, Wigan pressed forward and began to make Petr Cech work. Figueroa was afforded space to size up a shot which drew a full-stretch save from the Czech custodian.

Terry received treatment after landing awkwardly in a tussle with Di Santo and caused some consternation for Blues followers after appearing to suffer a serious knee problem. He was however able to resume.

A sloppy backpass from defensive partner Branislav Ivanovic presented an opportunity to Rodallega but Cech was quick to scramble clear before the Serbian made amends for his error by heading Di Santo’s goalbound effort away for a corner.

Cech limped around having suffered a blow to the foot in collision with Rodallega, whilst Sturridge also felt the impact of a Wigan player when Figueroa landed awkwardly on his lower back.

The latter was replaced by Florent Malouda for the final ten minutes but the lion’s share of the game was being played in Chelsea’s half of the field.

That said, it came as something of a surprise when the leveller arrived. Bosingwa was caught high up the pitch and allowed Di Santo to run in behind. With Ivanovic forced to cover, it left Chelsea stretched and after Cech spilt Rodallega’s tame effort, Gomez was able to clean up with his fourth goal in five appearances.

Speaking after the match, Villas-Boas attributed the loss of two points to a lack of concentration:

‘We tried hard, it was difficult because Wigan are a different side now. They have momentum from their recent run of good results, the crowd were behind them and they fought hard to get the points.

‘They made the best of our lack of concentration. We had Bosingwa, Terry and Cole behind the ball but it was part of a situation where Cech lost track of the opponent and they scored.’

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole, Romeu (Kalou 45), Meireles, Lampard, Mata (Mikel 66), Sturridge (Malouda 79), Drogba.
Subs not Used: Turnbull, Ferreira, McEachran, Torres.

Andre Villas-Boas finally had something to cheer about as Chelsea gave a performance which showed they are making progress and moving in the right direction after the recent debacles, after they broke Newcastle United’s unbeaten start to the season at home and recorded a 3-0 victory at St. James’s Park.

The pressure had been mounting on the young manager after a series of insipid performances which have resulted in us getting dumped out of the Carling Cup and fighting for our lives in the rest of the competitions.

Didier Drogba started, as hinted by Villas-Boas himself in midweek, alongside Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge; with the midfield seeing Oriol Romeu continuing to hold his place, but saw the return of Frank Lampard after his exclusion in midweek.

Newcastle United on the other hand was missing the influential Jonas Gutierrez through suspension, while the ever-impressive Cheick Tioté failed to recover from his knee injury as Danny Gutherie continued in his absence.

After an emotional tribute to the former Geordie captain, the Late Gary Speed, the match started in spectacular fashion and had the biggest talking point of the game when David Luiz was let-off after bringing down Demba Ba when the Senegalese International had the chance to be through on goal.

The Chelsea fan’s favourite was very lucky to survive that decision, and then was thankful for John Terry that his slip in the box was cleared by the England captain, in what was a very shaky start from him.

As if Mike Dean was purposely planning to rile in the Newcastle supporters, he awarded a penalty to Chelsea at the other end when Yohan Cabaye tripped Daniel Sturridge, after Ryan Tayor failed to match up with the explosive speed of the youngster. Frank Lampard stepped up, but unfortunately Tim Krul was in inspired form and palmed it on to the post.

The Dutchman was again at hand to deny Chelsea when he saved from Daniel Sturridge. It was turning into a very open game courtesy of some weak defending on Newcastle part as Ryan Taylor continued to struggle without Jonas Gutierrez there to support him; and Sturridge was taking full advantage of this and beating him at every opportunity.

It wasn’t all Chelsea though; Newcastle kept plugging away at our less than formidable defence and could have taken the lead through Ba, but Cech did well to tip it over. Ba was again troubling the Chelsea defence when he headed in a brilliant cross Danny Guthrie at the post.

In between, it was a piece of Juan Mata trickery which created an opening for Didier Drogba after his deftest of touch left Danny Simpson hanging, but his great cross was cleared at the last minute by Ryan Taylor before Drogba could put it in.

Ryan Taylor was still struggling, but it got even worse for Newcastle when Fabricio Coloccini had to go off with a hamstring problem and was replaced by James Perch. It was always going to be tough for Perch to match up to the strength of Didier Drogba and it was no surprise when Didier Drogba managed to beat him to head-in the first goal of the match.

Ashley Cole took a quick throw-in which caught the Newcastle defence napping allowing Juan Mata to get-in behind and produce the cross for the first goal.

It should have been two just before the break when Frank Lampard released Daniel Sturridge, but in this 1-v-1 battle it was Krul who came out the winner again.

Newcastle were still livid over the David Luiz decision going into the break, but clearly other issues at hand to deal with in the interval.

Just after the break, Didier Drogba had a great chance to double our lead when he brought down a cross from the right almost perfectly, but couldn’t match it up with a similar finish and hit it into the side-netting.

The impressive Krul story was still in full flow; Ramires was denied of a quick counter after a Didier Drogba header under pressure from Ba came off the bar and found its way to Mata who released Daniel Sturridge, and his perfect pass found the Brazilian, in what was one of the best Chelsea counters you’ll see.

Chelsea were now holding a much better shape in defence and rarely looked in any trouble as Newcastle was now restricted to long-distance shots as first Amoebi and then Ba tried their luck.

The Blues continued to go for the elusive second goal which would make the game safe as Mata went very close after some work from Sturridge.

Newcastle was always going to test the Chelsea resolve with being only a goal behind and came close as John Terry cleared off the line before a thunderous strike from Shola Amoebi rattled the crossbar and a follow-up from Sammy Amoebi was saved by Cech.

The game was soon to be settled though as the much dreaded Salomon Kalou broke Tim Krul’s resistance and was followed up by a much deserved goal from Daniel Sturridge.

Daniel Sturridge was the star of the show, but there was a case for John Terry to share that mantle as he produced a scintillating performance of his own.

Some of the satisfaction of the result was blighted at the end when Andre Villas-Boas confirmed to the media that both Nicolas Anelka and Alex have had their transfer request accepted and are now training differently to the first team, meaning that most probably both of them had played their last game in Blue of Chelsea.

Andre Villas was a much relieved man and left satisfied ahead of the crunch clash against Valencia, he said; ‘It was a good, solid performance for the whole 90 minutes,’ he said. ‘To find this inner belief and strength today given recent results was the key.

’3-0 was probably slightly excessive, but we were coming up against a team on a great run and with one of the best defences in the league, we did fantastically well, and it was the fairest of results.’

Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, D Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires, Romeu, Lampard (Meireles 60); Sturridge, Drogba (Torres 78), Mata (Kalou 74th).

Scorers Drogba 37, Kalou 86, Sturridge 90+2.

A win, a clean sheet and three points in the bag, this sounds like the perfect recipe for a Saturday afternoon for this Chelsea team who have had a horrendous time off late, and this is what we got as Chelsea cruised to a 3-0 win over a below-par Wolves team.

There was a first start for Oriol Romeu as Frank Lampard was rested, while the rest of the team picked itself with Florent Malouda making way for the ever-impressive Daniel Sturridge.

Chelsea have been on a terrible run of form over the past month, winning just two out of seven games which has seen them slip to fifth spot in the league, but then the opponents, Wolves, were in even worse position; winning just one league game in over three months.

So, a game which would have been a home banker had the potential to be a much more even contest, but from the first minute of the game it was clear that it wasn’t to be.

Chelsea started the match brightly and was on the attack from the kick-off.

Raul Meireles was there in all the Chelsea attacks at the beginning, making the trademark Frank Lampard forward runs, and could have opened the scoring inside the first few minutes but failed to hit the target, first with a weakly  hit shot from distance, and then missed his kick from a Branislav Ivanovic cutback.

There was no relief for Wolves as Ramires then stole the ball away from Nenad Milijas and broke with venom, with Didier Drogba giving him a supporting role and taking defenders away, and released a low powerful drive which was brilliantly saved by Wayne Hennessey.

From the resultant Juan Mata corner, John Terry beat his marker, Roger Johnson, to head it in; albeit a deflection of their big-money summer signing to put Chelsea ahead inside the first 10 minutes.

It took more than 22 minutes for Wolves to muster their first chance of the night when good work down the left created an opening for Ward, but with the Ireland International so far out, he couldn’t direct his header and it failed to trouble Cech in goal.

Chelsea enjoyed lots of room and were rarely put under any sort of pressure, and in particular the Wolves full-backs, without any support, struggled throughout the first half, therein giving the Chelsea full-backs an easy route to move forward and deciding our way of attack.

This weakness was again exposed when Raul Meireles released Juan Mata, and the Spaniard easily went past Ronald Zubar to put it on the plate for Daniel Sturridge to double Chelsea’s lead.

Ashley Cole recovered from the ankle knock that kept him out of the Bayern Leverkusen game in midweek to start in the back four which now seems to be finally getting a sense of stability about it as John Terry, David Luiz & Branislav Ivanovic continue to start alongside the former Arsenal man, who has now made more appearances in a Blue shirt than in the red & white.

And Cole was a menace throughout for the Wolves team as he put in a great cross for Mata to score the third Chelsea goal on the stroke of half-time.

The start of the second half was again the same story as Ramires tested Wayne Hennessey from a brilliant volley.

This time though it didn’t take long for Wolves to create a chance of their own.  After some nice build-up play, Sylvain Ebanks-Blake found Ward with neat through ball, but once again Stephen Ward failed to hit the target in what was Wolves best chance on the night.

Chelsea continued their patient passing game and could have gone ahead further when Sturridge went on an impressive run after being released by Ramires on the halfway line, as he went past Christopher Berra with ease and glided into the box and looked for a fellow Chelsea player, only to see his pass cleared off the line.

There was still no pressure on the Chelsea players as Didier Drogba shot from distance after being given ample space. Then Juan Mata should have really made it four when a save off Sturridge shot rebounded to him, but he stuck his first time shot straight at Hennessey.

Wolves then themselves forced Petr Cech into a similar double save; Matt Jarvis tested Petr Cech from the edge of the box, and his shot was parried away, but luckily for Jarvis it rebounded straight to him and he found Ward with his cutback. Ward released a powerful shot but Cech was again there to clear the danger.

Chelsea continued to push and probe a hapless Wolves side, but didn’t manage to add to the three goals in the first half in what was a very comfortable afternoon for Chelsea players and fans alike.

Daniel Sturridge continued to threaten and added another goal to his impressive early season tally, while Juan Mata enjoyed a good day out after struggling to make any impact for the past few weeks.

Oriol Romeu also put in a decent shift in, but there will be sterner tests from him in the future after enjoying a comfortable and steady game.

Andre Villas-Boas epitomized the importance of three points, but maintained that a lot of works still needs to be done, he said; ‘We’re not going to fill ourselves with arrogance and think this is going to be a good period from now on.

‘We have to wait and see but what makes us proud in this difficult situation is that if we reflect on the games we played we didn’t deserve the results we ended up with and today we continued by being the same team but finally ended up with getting the result.

‘It was important for us to get the three points and we managed to shorten the distance to United and Newcastle but for us to be a continuous threat we will need to continue to win and we have a game against Newcastle soon then a game against the leaders to show we are a quality side. So let’s wait and see but today was important. ‘

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ivanovic (Bosingwa 76), D Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires, Romeu, Meireles (Lampard 69); Sturridge, Drogba (Torres 76), Mata.

Scorers: Terry 6, Sturridge 28, Mata 44.

The curse of Liverpool just doesn’t seem to end for the Blues as we suffered our third loss in our last four home games against the men from Merseyside.

Maxi Rodriguez had given Liverpool the lead in the first half, but Chelsea came roaring at them in the beginning of the second half before a late winner from the former Chelsea man, Glen Johnson, ruined the day and brought them level on points with us.

Rather than the indifferent form of the two teams it was the allegations of racism and wastage of money which dominated the discussion before the match as Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres continued to struggle.

Didier Drogba was drafted straight into the starting line-up after his return from injury having served his suspension last week, while David Luiz started in the centre of defence despite Alex keeping a clean sheet alongside John Terry at Ewood Park before the international break.

Liverpool likewise continued to bench the under-performing Andy Carroll, but brought in the effective trio of Maxi Rodriguez, Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy in addition to Luis Suarez, thus assembling the perfect antidote for our undisciplined defence with their direct running and quick counters.

The game started pretty evenly with both sides matching each other, and so, despite having much of the possession Chelsea failed to create any clear-cut chances while Liverpool looked more than threatening every time they broke.

Juan Mata and John Obi Mikel were the first to try their luck, but failed to hit the target, while a Didier Drogba free-kick caused joyous celebrations amongst the Chelsea faithful only to be denied by the reality of it hitting the side-netting.

After this initial furore, the game settled down and Liverpool’s plan of being patient started to pay-off as the spaces began to open up with the pressure growing on the midfield and defence as we became non-existent as an attacking force.

Juan Mata who started the game brightly and enjoyed decent time on the ball as he spread the play by dropping deep, became anonymous as the game went on, much like the rest of our midfield.

Just on the half hour mark then, the Chelsea team were made to pay for their rather exhaustive backline problems with John Obi Mikel, isolated in possession, was robbed off just outside the box by Charlie Adam as Liverpool players ran like hungry foxes with Chelsea defence line nowhere to be seen, and hugely outnumbered them, allowing Maxi Rodriguez to easily score past Petr Čech after some nice interplay in the build-up.

It was all shambles at the back, consistent with our display this season, and it could have gotten even worse but only for a last minute interception by the irrepressible David Luiz, who was again having one of his typical games

Liverpool went into the game a goal to the good as the Blues produced a rather mediocre display in the first half.

With the team in dire need of some inspiration, Villas-Boas introduced the in-form Daniel Sturridge at the break in place of John Obi Mikel.

And much to the delight of everyone, the substitute had the desired impact as Sturridge pounced on the ball at the back post after a powerful driving run by Florent Malouda created the opening. This was Daniel Sturridge’s fifth goal of the season, although he definitely needs some work on those celebrations it seems.

This goal was the spark the team needed as we drove forward with intent and could have taken the lead just minutes after the goal when Branisalv Ivanovic’s header from a Didier Drogba free-kick looked goal bound until Pepe Reina produced a fantastic save to put it out.

Chelsea was now totally dominant and had majority of the possession and attacked in numbers, at times almost too lavishly and left lots of spaces at the back.

Florent Malouda, who was having one of his best games of the season so far, produced an acrobatic effort, but his overhead kick went wide of the post.

Liverpool were now on the back foot and only one team looked like scoring, especially more so when Kenny Dalglish replaced Craig Bellamy and Maxi Rodriguez, with the out-of-form duo of Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing.

But as the case has been with us this season, the leaky defence came to fore again, and the opposite happened as Liverpool took a shock lead with less than two minutes of normal time remaining.

The goal came out of the blue as Chelsea were in the ascendency, but it didn’t surprise any of the home fans and sent the away fans, whose knowledge level were earlier called into question by their own club, into delirium.

Liverpool are now level on points with us, and only goal difference separates the four teams from fourth to seventh in the table. The fact that Spurs have played two games less and Arsenal was suppose to be in turmoil just a few weeks ago tells the story of our own precarious situation.

Time and again we have dominated games and come out of them with nothing, and when the average fan can recognize the problems we are facing then it wouldn’t be wrong to expect the 15m Euros man to be on top of the situation and provide the answer soon.

In the end, André Villas-Boas was left disappointed by the defeat, and gave the impression that reclaiming the League may already be getting out of hands, he said; “It’s a bad blow for us in the Premiership. It’s a big blow. In terms of the Premiership, things are difficult.

“We have a home game with Wolves next, before Newcastle and then the leaders and we have to try and win those games, as difficult as they are.

“There are lots of points on offer in November and December. The calendar gets tight and maybe we can get some extra points.

“But this is one step closer to an even more difficult situation.”

Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, David Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires (Meireles 83), Mikel (Sturridge h-t), Lampard; Mata, Drogba (Torres 83), Malouda.

Scorer: Sturridge 54.

Chelsea drew 1-1 with Genk away in Belgium, in the Champions League this evening.

Chelsea started with Cech in goal, Bosingwa on the right, Ivanovic & Luiz centrally, with Cole on the left.  Romeu took the defensive midfield slot flanked by both Ramires & Miereles, with Malouda, Torres, & Anelka up front.

The blues had opened the scoring through a Ramires goal in the 26th minute and it should have been doubled when Chelsea were awarded a penalty, however Luiz put the resultant kick wide.

Genk opened the second half brightly with the impressive De Bruyne delivering some dangerous balls into the box, and it was the youngster who set up the equaliser, crossing for Vossen to slot home in the 60th minute.

The goal prompted an immediate change by Villas Boas, bringing on Lampard and Sturridge for Ramires and Anelka, with many surprised that Malouda stayed on the pitch. Chelsea upped their game for a while after the substitutions but Genk were not out of the match and had some dangerous opportunities of their own.

Mata soon joined the fray in place of Romeu as Villas-Boas looked to win the match. Win it we could and maybe should have, with Sturridge, Malouda and Lampard all going close, and in the latter two’s case, being only inches away.

Villas-Boas reflected on the match, saying; “It’s not a bad result away from home but we expected to win, I wouldn’t say we lost control. We were quite organised in the first half and in the second half I think we shouldn’t confuse losing control of the game with emotions coming from the stadium.”

“We created enough opportunities again to try to win the game but it’s not happening for us in terms of efficiency. We got a penalty, hit the post and got in front of the goalkeeper a couple of times, so it’s about efficiency at the moment.”

“It’s things we need to focus on because it can put us clear in terms of the result and we can move clear for the second half with 2-0.” He added; “When you don’t the game is always open and there for you to be threatened. Genk made the most of a couple of opportunities they had, one went in and it finished 1-1.’

He reflected; “You play difficult games, and at the moment we are chasing hard this win, but we haven’t found it today. Our reflection must be on what we did in the game, was it enough to win? I think it was but we couldn’t find the back of the net and that made the difference.” Said Villas-Boas.

“It’s back to back games without a win but it is a draw away from home in the Champions League. We still lead the group, now we go to Leverkusen and expect to do something there.”

When asked about Luiz’s missed penalty, the gaffer replied; “We had David and Nicolas Anelka. We always assign two players for penalty kicks, it’s something we practice and all our penalty takers at the moment have missed one, from David to Nico to Lamps so in that sense we have to gain efficiency because all of them are extremely good penalty takers.”

“On the pitch between Nico and David had to decide, and the goalkeeper made a save.”

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech (c); Bosingwa, Ivanovic, David Luiz, Cole; Ramires (Lampard 65), Romeu (Mata 76), Meireles; Anelka (Sturridge 65), Torres , Malouda.
Goal: Ramires 25

A tumultuous week for Chelsea Football Club ended in remarkable fashion Saturday lunchtime as the Blues were defeated 5-3 by Arsenal.

Robin van Persie’s hat-trick secured a huge three points for the visitors but it was the hosts’ defensive performance which was the subject of post-match discussion, as Arsene Wenger’s team found time and space with alarming regularity.

Andre Villas-Boas made two changes from the previous league outing away to Queens Park Rangers, with Fernando Torres returning from suspension to replace Didier Drogba, who was banned himself.

David Luiz was afforded a deserved rest as the only player to feature for the entire duration of the last two energy-sapping matches, whilst Nicolas Anelka failed a pre-match fitness test and was absent from the bench.

Even before Frank Lampard’s headed opener after a quarter of an hour the die had been cast in a frenetic match in which neither side seemed to care too much about defending.

Ashley Cole and Daniel Sturridge both made early gains in exposing Arsenal’s full-backs but their final delivery was lacking, whilst Ivorian forward Gervinho contrived to miss a wide open goal after Theo Walcott had roasted Cole for pace on a counter attack.

Lampard’s sixth goal of the season after a delightful cross from Juan Mata should therefore have seen Chelsea take a firmer control of proceedings but instead they found themselves stretched by Arsenal’s precise midfield approach play, and whilst van Persie wasted a golden opportunity at the far post, he wasn’t about to do his foes any further favours.

Mikel lost possession in his own half and lost Gervinho, who beat a poor attempt at an offside trap before squaring to his captain, who swept into an unguarded net.

The playground football continued almost unabated as Sturridge converted from Ramires’ cross but had done so from an offside position. The England Under-21 international had previously spurned a fine chance to extend the lead after an exquisite pass from Lampard but in front of the watching Fabio Capello failed to make a notable impression.

The Blues restored their lead shortly before half time when John Terry converted from a Lampard corner. After a week in which his name has once again hit the headlines, the club captain responded in familiar fashion by finding the back of the net.

Heading into the break with a lead, surely now Villas-Boas and his charges would look to consolidate their position and seek to take advantage of a notoriously favourable Arsenal defence?

Logic was to be defied yet again though, as Chelsea handed their opponents an equaliser on a silver platter. Jose Bosingwa was absent without leave and Sturridge failed to track full-back Andre Santos, who had time and space to beat Petr Cech from 18 yards.

The action immediately swung back the other way and from kickoff, Cole found himself bearing down on goal, but was crudely taken out by goalkeeper Szczesny.

The Polish custodian was given just a yellow card and admitted afterwards that he felt lucky to have stayed on the pitch.

Whether it was a turning point or not, the Blues continued to both play and defend in embarrassing fashion. No fewer than five players converged on a grounded Walcott but watched him get to his feet and the loose ball first before firing past Cech to seize the lead for the first time.

Chelsea’s manager responded with positivity, introducing Florent Malouda, Romelu Lukaku and Raul Meireles, and they had the desired effect as two of the replacements were involved in the game’s sixth goal.

Meireles closed down with tenacity to win possession and Lukaku used his ample frame to shield the ball into Mata’s path. The Spaniard unleashed a wicked effort from fully 30 yards which veered away from Szczesny and into the top corner to make it 3-3.

From despair and tension, the Stamford Bridge crowd had been lifted from their slumber and now urged their heroes to muster one last effort in search of victory.

Instead, a wildly mis-placed pass by Malouda left Terry scrambling, and as he fell over he presented van Persie with a clear route on goal. He duly rounded Cech and rolled the ball into the back of the net to secure the victory.

He added gloss to the day on both a personal and a team level with an emphatic finish in stoppage time to complete a hat-trick and put the seal on an utterly forgettable afternoon for the Chelsea faithful.

The Blues should have been out of sight before half an hour had even been played but a combination of poor execution from the players and obvious flaws in their defensive approach combined to shipping five goals for the first time in over a decade.

Let the inquest begin.

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires (Lukaku 72), Mikel (Meireles 75), Lampard; Sturridge (Malouda 61), Torres, Mata.
Subs not Used: Blackman, Bertrand, David Luiz, Romeu.

In the end, Chelsea’s second defeat of the season went down in entirely predictable fashion as another London derby ended with tempers frayed and the Blues with reduced numbers.

Heidar Helguson’s early penalty proved enough to seal three points for Queens Park Rangers which were celebrated as loudly as any in their history, as first half red cards for Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba left their West London rivals facing more than an uphill struggle.

Villas-Boas made a number of changes from the midweek Champions League thrashing of Genk, with John Terry, John Obi Mikel, Juan Mata, Daniel Sturridge and Drogba all returning to the side.

Despite good amounts of early possession, Chelsea found themselves a goal behind after just ten minutes when referee Chris Foy made the first of a series of contentious decisions in awarding the hosts a penalty for David Luiz’s chest-bump on Icelandic veteran Helguson.

The forward picked himself up to shake off the attentions of team-mate Adel Taarabt in wanting to take it to give his side the lead, although Petr Cech did get a touch with a swipe of his left hand.

The visitors continued to enjoy a lot of time with the ball, but rarely found sufficient space in which to carve out quality openings. Neil Warnock’s side defended deep and in numbers, and looked to take advantage of their more illustrious opponents on the break with long balls over the top.

One such hopeful ball forward caused problems for Jose Bosingwa a little over halfway through the first half. A tussle for leverage with Shaun Wright-Phillips saw the former Chelsea man fall over under the attentions of his Portuguese opponent and referee Foy was quick to issue a red card for a professional foul.

Captain Terry was adamant in his belief that he would have provided sufficient cover as to deem it far from a conclusive goalscoring opportunity, but the decision was made and Chelsea were down to ten.

Villas-Boas opted to replace Sturridge with Branislav Ivanovic in response, leaving Drogba as the lone forward, a move which caused some consternation amongst the sold out visiting crowd, and when the Ivorian too was given his marching orders for a poor tackle on Taarabt before half time, the Blues found themselves with quite the hole to climb out of.

Mata duly made way for Nicolas Anelka as Villas-Boas switched things up to a 4-3-1 formation, before retiring to the Loftus Road changing rooms to concoct a plan of action for the second half.

Rangers had offered little by way of attacking nous but with a comfortable advantage numerically and a fervent home crowd behind them, they were favourites to go on and put the game to bed early after the restart.

Instead, they were on the back foot early and often. With Meireles and Lampard covering every blade of grass between the penalty areas, both full-backs getting up in support and David Luiz and Terry taking it in turns to support Anelka in attack, Chelsea were able to take control of the game.

Barely five minutes of the second half had been completed when Lampard went close to connecting with a cross from the right, whilst Terry curled an effort just wide of Paddy Kenny’s far post.

A flare-up between Lampard and Shaun Derry earned both a booking from Mr Foy, who would go on to book a total of seven Chelsea players in addition to the two red cards.

After the match, Villas-Boas claimed that the officials were never in control of the game and as Lampard, Terry, and Luiz twice were all denied valid penalty shouts, Chelsea’s sense of aggrievement became more and more tangible.

Certainly, if Luiz’s foul on Helguson in the first half was deemed worthy of a spot kick, then at least one of the Blues’ second-half appeals should have been measured by the same stick.

Instead, Foy gave them short shrift and affairs threatened to boil over in the late stages when Terry was involved in altercations with both Kenny and Anton Ferdinand.

QPR should have added a second when both Joey Barton and Luke Young missed chances from the inside right channel but Petr Cech made just one save of note in the second half and played more as a sweeper than a goalkeeper.

Anelka was presented with the gilt-edged chance Chelsea had hoped for ten minutes from time but he nodded his close range header straight at Kenny and despite some late pressure, they were unable to find a way through.

Drogba will now serve a three-match ban whilst Bosingwa will miss the midweek Carling Cup trip to Everton, as will Ashley Cole, who picked up his fifth caution of the season.

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Mikel, Meireles (Malouda 72), Lampard, Mata (Anelka 44), Sturridge (Ivanovic 36), Drogba
Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Romeu, McEachran, Kalou

Booked: Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Meireles
Sent Off: Bosingwa, Drogba

John Terry scored on his 350th league appearance for Chelsea against Everton on Saturday, doubling an earlier Sturridge effort in the first half and preceding a Ramires goal in the second, which saw Chelsea beat Everton at home for the first time since 2006.

With the international break coming straight after a 5-1 victory over Bolton, there was a concern that the teams rhythm may have been upset. This was true in parts for spells of the match, and was to be expected, however three good goals were scored, but yet another sloppy one got in at the other end.

The opening half an hour wasn’t the most exciting if truth be told, with chances few and far between as Everton looked to sit back and hit on the break, a now familiar tactic seen played against us with our high defensive line. That said, there were some nice passages of play by Chelsea, especially from the wide areas, and a couple of shaky moments at the back with Cole making a few early errors.

The first goal came in the 30th minute after a nice passage of play, Mata found some space in the mid field and dinked a ball into the path of the onrushing Cole, who then lofted the ball across the the face of goal for Sturridge to put a diving header beyond the reach of Tim Howard, to mark his third in two games.

The second came on the stroke of half time after a free kick was given wide of the Everton box late on, and Chelsea duly took advantage. Lampard put the ball into the box, and at the far post John Terry bundled a header home.

The second half kicked off with no changes and it was Everton who started brightly, almost pulling a goal back through Leon Osman who saw an effort go wide via the upright.

Chelsea’s third goal came by the way of some excellent counter-attacking football. The irrepressible Mata found Didier Drogba in the centre-circle, who turned and powered at the Everton defence before laying the ball back out to Mata on the left hand side. The Spanish International placed the ball low and hard across the six yard box as Ramires slid in and finished the move to make it 3-0.

The celebrations were short for Ramires however, as he had to go off with what appeared to be a twisted knee, and he had to go off to be replaced by Florent Malouda, and shortly after Romeu and Anelka came on to close out the game in place of Mikel and Mata.

Alas it was to be another match without a clean sheet though, as slack defending allowed an equaliser; Royston Drenthe got into space on the Everton left and put in low cross with his first touch, straight into the path of the onrushing substitute, Apostolos Vellios, who scored with his first touch. A fourth goal nearly arrived late on after another nice passage if play, but Lampard’s volley was straight at Howard.

The referee blew the whistle after four minutes of injury time to maintain Chelsea’s 100% home record and keep the pressure on the Manchester clubs and make it eight goals scored, and two conceded in the past two games.

After the match Villas-Boas said of the performance; “It was a good win for us, it is never easy coming back after an international break but it was important to get three points, particularly on a day when two title contenders played against each other. Eventually Man United got an important point at Anfield but at least it allows us to get closer to second position at the moment. A point at Anfield is something that any manager takes. It still gives us the opportunity to get closer to them but of course we still need to go to Anfield.”

“We have not done anything special. We just have to continue to win until we find a position of comfort at the top of the league. We need three points at Queens Park Rangers which is going to be difficult and see what happens in the game between Manchester United and Manchester City.”

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires (Malouda 64), Mikel (Romeu 76), Lampard; Sturridge, Torres, Mata (Anelka 76).
Unused subs Turnbull, Alex, Meireles, Lukaku.

Goals Sturridge 30, Terry 45+1, Ramires 61.