3 reasons why Chelsea's progress has stalled in recent weeks

Chelsea began the season flying. The West London club won the first five games of the Premier League season in stellar fashion. They remained unbeaten in all competitions for the first three months of the season and Sarri became the first manager in Chelsea history to go unbeaten in his first nine league games.

However, their undefeated streak ended in a pretty dire manner at the hands of London rivals, Tottenham. The quality of performance even before the Tottenham defeat had reduced somewhat with narrow wins in the Europa League and the draw at Everton showing the gradual decline in performance.

The defeat at Wembley may have just been considered a bad day at the office by players, fans and pundits alike. However, the laboured performance against Fulham and the subsequent defeat at Wolves are evidence of more deep-seated issues plaguing the Sarri revolution.

Here's a look at three reasons for Chelsea's recent struggles:

#1 The form of Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard started the season on the bench as a precaution considering how far he went at the World Cup. His cameo appearances off the bench were truly remarkable and Sarri eventually eased him into first-team action.

Hazard stormed into Golden Boot contention with 7 goals whilst also recording 5 assists. The 7 goals and 5 assists were all by matchweek 8 in early October. In the 7 matches since October 7, Hazard has claimed zero goals and one assist.

It is no surprise that Chelsea have dropped 10 of the 21 points available. This period has also seen the gap to the pacesetters, Manchester City extend to 10 points after matchweek 15. The form of Eden Hazard is vital to the success of Chelsea. His decline in recent weeks has seen them lose points and slowly drop down the table.

#2 The lack of a clinical finisher

Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud have been rotated as Chelsea's first choice strikers this season. Morata has 14 appearances and has scored 5 goals and assisted none. Olivier Giroud has made 12 appearances, scoring once and assisting 4 times.

The two strikers have struggled for goals and confidence this season with neither of them showing clinicality in front of goal. This has culminated in Chelsea missing 27 big chances, the third highest in the Premier League.

Morata has been more culpable than any other Chelsea player. He has missed 11 big chances in the league. This places him second behind only Callum Wilson on 12.

Giroud has missed one big chance and scored one big chance this season. Chelsea are among the top in the division for chances created. This means that the chances are not falling for Giroud or he is not positioning himself well enough for the big chances.

This lack of clinicality has cost Chelsea vital points in games against West Ham, Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

#3 The Kante dilemma

In Jorginho and Kante, Chelsea have two world-class central midfielders. Add Fabregas and Kovacic to the mix and you have a midfield that every great team dreams of. Kante is the best defensive midfielder in Europe.

However, Sarri operates in a 4-3-3 formation that requires the deep-lying midfielder to be a playmaker. This has seen Jorginho and Fabregas operate in that role this season. The problem then occurs whenever Chelsea loses the ball in midfield. For all their playmaking attributes, Jorginho and Fabregas do not have the ability to cope with the speedsters in the Premier League.

Kante has the pace and will to keep up with these players but he operates at the right side of the midfield three in Sarri's 4-3-3. This means that he is often too far ahead when the ball is lost in midfield and cannot recover in time to stop the danger. This weakness in Chelsea's play has been exploited to devastating effect by Wolves and Tottenham.

Sarri has to address the Kante conundrum, the form of Hazard and the goalscoring woes ahead of the festive period. If their declining form carries over into Christmas, it may be too late and their top four hopes may be up in flames.