A Dreadful Embarrassment

I dreamt last night that Chelsea suffered one of the worst results in their history by losing three-nil at home to Bournemouth. However, when I woke up this morning, I realised that this nightmare had indeed taken place. It wasn't just a bad dream. You got to hand it to the class of 2018. They don't do things by halves. One week they are winning four-nil at Brighton and the next week they are losing three-nil at home to another south coast club. Losing narrowly by one-nil or two-one would have been slightly excusable, but this was a drubbing. The champions may have dominated in terms of possession, but it's a damning indictment that Marcus Alonso appears to carry our greatest goal threat at present.

Of course the club have drafted in such luminaries as Barkley, Palmieri, and Giroud in the January transfer window, but such is the evaporation of confidence and the inadequacies of the current squad, that the club could possibly do with a February transfer window as well. Conte and his assorted band of muppets will have to soldier on through until the end of this increasingly car crash season. Success in the Champions League looks way beyond our capabilities. Even a finish in the top four of the Premier League looks in jeopardy. Only a series of flukey cup draws against teams even worse than us might deliver us a successful cup run. Teams that are free-scoring can always find a goal or two to rescue themselves from their predicament, but this current crop are leaking too many goals and failing miserably in the opposition's final third. We're just not ticking any boxes these days. Hopefully the new recruits might arrest this winter of discontent at Stamford Bridge.

CHELSEA 0 Bournemouth 3; half time: 0-0

CHELSEA: Courtois; Cahill; Christensen; Azpilicueta; Bakayoko; Zappacosta; Kante; Barkley; Pedro; Alonso; Hazard. Used substitutes: Rudiger; Fabregas; Hudson-Odoi

CHELSEA leading scorers:

Hazard twelve

Morata twelve

Batshuayi ten

Willian eight

Alonso seven

Pedro four

Bakayoko three

Rudiger three