As far as Premier League seasons go, this has been a bad one for Chelsea. Without even looking into performance related numbers it is clear from their mass turnover. Two managers sacked, four men taking charge and a lengthy search for a third permanent head coach ongoing.
Domestic cup runs ending in the first round to Manchester City can happen but are ultimately an unlucky draw. The run to the quarter-finals of the Champions League had some brilliant moments but some ultimately dismal ones as well. Losing to serial conquerors Real Madrid is no major embarrassment.
What is a huge disappointment and total frustration is sitting 11th in the league after 31 games. Chelsea are, for the recent claims of being the biggest and best club in London, the lowest ranked of the three West London sides this season.
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They can make steps to closing in on Brentford - one place above them at the time of writing - and Fulham are only one place higher but this isn't what near on £600million of investment is meant to bring. Despite the lavish resources they are the fourth lowest scoring side in the league.
Discount the bottom three and only Wolves have less. Nobody in the top half has scored fewer. It is the lowest tally in the club's league history at this stage and is on course to break that unwanted record in front of goal as well. Even though only Newcastle and Manchester City have conceded less, it's not much to be proud of or shout about at this moment.
Their 12 losses is more than both their wins (10) and draws (nine) so far this season. The top three combined have been defeated less times than Chelsea. It is only one more than sixth place, top four competing Tottenham but again, it's not much.
In a week that saw Spurs refund their fans following the 6-1 away loss to Newcastle, it has been revealed that Chelsea, in a cheeky sense, would have to pay out £18.4million to reimburse their fans for losses this season. Based on data from Ticketgum, it is the 11th most in the league.
Accounting for average home ticket prices, average attendance at home and away games, the number of defeats on the road and at home, the figure comes to a staggering amount. Compared to Newcastle's tiny £5.2million it puts things into perspective.
Chelsea, for all their poor displays - namely two losses to Southampton, being thrashed 3-0 at Elland Road and pummelled away to Brighton - haven't found themselves in the position of being five goals down inside 20 minutes - very few teams do. With such little up for grabs in the last weeks of the season fans probably shouldn't be holding their breath ahead of receiving any of this £18million back.
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