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A lot can happen within the space of a month. No club demonstrates this better than Chelsea at the moment. The Blues were flying high at the start of December, having beaten Leeds United to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 15 games.
That win against Leeds had taken Chelsea to the top of the Premier League table, albeit temporarily. However, the Blues have since won just one game.
December was such a poor month for Chelsea that they have moved from a side challenging for the title, to one that is currently struggling to break into the top four. A month ago, they were being touted as title contenders, but it seems it was all premature.
The 2020-21 season has been very unpredictable. Since the beginning of the campaign, Everton, Aston Villa, Southampton and Liverpool have all occupied the top spot at some point.
While Liverpool remain the outright favorites to defend their title, many other teams have staked a claim to challenge Jurgen Klopp’s side. Chelsea, though, appear far off the pace.
Frank Lampard took the bait when he admitted that Chelsea were title contenders after a run of good results. However, the team’s recent slump shows that title talks were rushed.
As the Blues prepare to face Manchester City on Sunday, very few of their supporters will be confident going into the game. This is because Chelsea are yet to beat any team that is above 12th in the Premier League.
To win the league, they will have to improve their form in big games. As it stands, though, the Blues are not just struggling in the big games, but also toiling to win against the Premier League’s decent teams.
Speaking at his press conference ahead of the Manchester City fixture, Lampard was modest, admitting that his side had a long way to go to be title contenders.
“Last year there were many tests through the season from start to finish. There was when I first started, there was around Christmas last year when we went from seven wins back-to-back to a difficult time, and that’s the nature of the job when you’re coming into a team that’s young and changing,” Lampard told Chelseafc.com.
“You’re not going to go from zero to 100 so you have to be ready for those times. I think one of my strengths hopefully is never being too excited when we’re going well, I was trying to dampen flames after Leeds for instance when everyone was talking us up, and then my job is to not be too down when we have results go against us.”
Chelsea started the season well, but have quickly fallen off the pace in recent weeks.
They are currently seven points behind joint table-toppers Liverpool and Manchester United, and their recent slump only goes to emphasize the point that the club's earlier tag as title contenders was premature at best.
