Chelsea lost at home in last weekend's premier league fixture to high flying Tottenham 1-3 at Stamford Bridge in a game which almost confirms that Chelsea will not be in the Champions league next season with only 7 games remaining.
This defeat is the latest in a long list of disappointing defeats and performances for Chelsea this season.
Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, who won the premier league title in his first season in England and was hailed for the introduction and his effective use of the 3-4-3 formation has seen Chelsea's fortunes go south this season. Chelsea lie 5th in the league with 56 points and are 8 points behind 4th placed Spurs.
Only a spectacular collapse by Spurs will see Chelsea gain passage to the UCL. Knowing how Chelsea has treated even more successful managers in the past then it is anyone's guess what will be the fate of Conte in the summer especially if they don't win the FA cup.
But why have things gone wrong for Conte this season?
1. That text to Diego Costa
At the end of last season, Conte sent former Chelsea striker Diego Costa a text as players were about going for a deserved break that he was no longer in his plans for next season and should find himself a new club.
It led to a saga between Costa and Conte which eventually led to Costa re-joining former club Athletico Madrid last January. The only problem for Conte is that he has so far failed to acquire a prolific replacement. Conte signed Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid but he has struggled so far to fill the large boots of Diego Costa.
2. Choosing Morata over Lukaku
Chelsea signed Morata for £60m from Real Madrid and he has so far delivered 11 EPL goals for Chelsea. Conte decided to over look a tried and tested Romelu Lukaku who could easily fill the void left by Diego Costa's all round play and favoured a more sleek and 'intelligent' striker.
The gamble hasn't worked very well this season and now Conte has had to sign Olivier Giroud from Arsenal to help with the goals.
Lukaku on the other hand, has scored his 100th premier league in the colours of Manchester United.
3. Replacing Batshuayi with Giroud
In the January transfer window, Conte allowed Belgian striker, Michy Batshuayi join Borussia Dortmund for the rest of the season on loan and went ahead to sign Arsenal striker, Olivier Giroud.
In a cruel twist of fortunes, Batshuayi has gone on to flourish at Dortmund while Giroud has hardly made an impact at Chelsea. Why Conte failed to give Batshuayi a run in the side despite Morata's struggles with injury, form or adaptation to the premier league is a mystery.
4. The sale of Matic to United
For some reason, Antonio Conte allowed the sale of Nemanja Matic to rivals Manchester United for £40m pounds and replaced Matic with Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Matic had formed a formidable partnership with N'Golo Kante in Chelsea's central midfield last season and so the sale of a key element in Chelsea's title winning team is baffling.
Bakayoko it turns out does not have the same defensive discipline as Matic because he is more attack minded. This has left Chelsea exposed in midfield and defence as Kante is left alone to do all the dirty work.
5. The signing of Drinkwater and Barkley
In order to plug the hole left behind by Matic, Conte has tried to rekindle the midfield partnership between Kante and Danny Drinkwater at Leicester's title winning team of 2 years ago by signing Drinkwater from Leicester in January.
Sadly, they have hardly featured together in midfield with Drinkwater finding it difficult getting into the first team.
Meanwhile, Ross Barkley who joined Chelsea from Everton during the January transfer window as well has barely had a kick since he joined. It's hard to see him upstaging Cesc Fabregas in Chelsea's attacking midfield.
Barkley joined Chelsea after a long injury lay off and will need time to regain full match fitness and his form in order to challenge Fabregas for a starting shirt next season.
6. The beef with David Luiz
One of the decisions Conte made last season that turned out to be a master stroke was the re-signing of defender David Luiz from PSG.
His partnership with Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill in Chelsea's 3 man central defence last season was one of the success stories for Chelsea as they had one of the meanest defences in the premier league.
But this season, probably due to a bust up off the field, David Luiz has lost his place to Andreas Christiansen who though has looked promising, is young and is prone to the odd mistake just like his mistake against Barcelona in the Champions League where his wayward pass led to Barca's equaliser.
7. His Quarrel With Mourinho
Conte allowed himself to be side tracked and fall prey to Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho's mind games.
Mourinho had earlier in the season hinted that Conte was a 'clown' due to his exuberant goal celebrations and also made reference to a match fixing scandal Conte had been indicted in while he was coach of Siena but was later cleared of wrong doing.
Conte of course was visibly irritated and hurt by this and in a press conference called Jose a 'little man' with no profile.
How this spat with Mourinho which dates back to last season where they exchanged hot words on the touch line has affected Conte this season in the battle for the top 4 is obvious.
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