What a result! But really, did we expect Chelsea to win? When will we learn? This season, Chelsea have played at the same level all season. They have managed to play steadily at the same awful level since the very first game against Swansea.
After 15 games of the season, why did we think the table would lie?
If you get relegated, you deserve to be relegated. A 38 game season will see to that – if you’re down there by the end, well, you’ve had 38 games to get it right. If you win the league, same goes.
After 15 it’s a little less fair. But the league has undoubtedly fallen into place in terms of form by this stage. Chelsea’s position might be false, but it’s not that false. They are where they are because of how good they’ve been.
Last season, Chelsea lost their first game of the season in the 15th game. This season we have now reached the 15th game, and Chelsea have lost 11 times in all competitions.
So what have we learned from Chelsea’s game against Bournemouth today? THe answer is not a lot we didn’t already know!
But here are three things we did manage to take from it:
Chelsea’s good form was a myth
It was argued that Cheslea were starting to see the green shoots of recovery after their week without defeat. Victories over Norwich and Maccabi Tel-Aviv and a draw with Spurs gave them hope.
But that has been shown for what it was, today. A Bournemouth team whose players called the lower leagues home only a few seasons ago outclassed Chelsea today. Bournemouth deserved their win and it could have been more.
After all the injuries that Bournemouth have had to suffer, they look almost certain relegation candidates, but if even they are better than Chelsea, then how badly will the Champions do?
Their good form was a myth, and they still have serious problems at a club that has gone rotten so quickly.
Bournemouth may go down, but they’ll go down fighting
After all of the optimism surrounding Bournemouth after the first few games of the season, where they lost unluckily to Liverpool and Villa and beat West Ham with some wonderfully pacey play, the Cherries have suffered an unholy injury crisis and are everyone’s favourites for the drop.
Well, until today that is!
A great win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge is perhaps only dampened by the fact that so many away teams win at Stamford Bridge these days!
But the most important part of today was how they fought for the win. They played the game they wanted to play, but they also defended with some real style.
Bournemouth may go down because of the injuries they’ve suffered and the fact that they haven’t been able to ease into their season and grow together as a team in the way they’d have wanted. But if they do go down, they’ll go down fighting – the last two weeks have shown us that!
Chelsea need to profit from an easy Christmas period
Now only three points above the relegation zone, Chelsea need to step things up. Chelsea aren’t safe from the threat of relegation, and they’re running out of time.
The games come thick and fast over the Christmas period, and if Chelsea don’t take advantage of the easier run of fixtures – at home to Sunderland and Watford either side of Christmas day and trips to Manchester United and Crystal Palace either side of New Year’s Day – then they might find themselves in real relegation trouble.
Fans and pundits have talked about Chelsea as part of the relegation battle, but not yet in complete seriousness. But if Chelsea don’t manage to take a large number of points from these easier games, then when the harder teams come knocking, where are they going to get the points to stay clear of the relegation battle, never mind grab a European place?