Chelsea: Pump the brakes, the Blues haven’t beaten anybody yet

Chelsea fans need to pump the breaks on the title talks, the Blues have started well, but they haven’t beaten anybody thus far.

It’s the Holiday season—albeit in a very non-holiday type of year—and Chelsea fans are borderline euphoric. The Blues were top of the table for a couple of hours last Saturday, but truth be told, they haven’t really beaten anyone yet. Recently though, they lost a very disappointing match to Everton, 1-0.

Take a look at the table and the reality is this: Chelsea has not really done much of anything yet except what it should have done, and that’s beat bottom of the table clubs. That’s still a good thing, you can only beat what’s put in front of you, but maybe we the fans have been getting ahead of ourselves. The previous 17 unbeaten and the era of good feeling was fun, but now we should put the brakes on and face facts. Until the Blues beat the good teams, they’re just another squad.

The Blues have yet to beat a top 10 team thus far, the closest they got was beating Newcastle, who currently sits 11th in the table. Therefore, what is all the euphoria about? Simple, it’s about a really talented squad playing to its expectations so far and for the first time in a couple of years, actually beating teams that it should beat rather than dropping points all the time. While it’s a good thing, it’s also cause for some concern.

While the Chelsea faithful huzzah and sing to the glory of the current squad in the comfort of their homes, unfortunately rather than at Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard’s side really hasn’t accomplished anything. It’s beaten a few teams at the bottom of the table and a couple of lower-echelon teams in the Champions League—and that’s all. It seems that we, the Blues faithful, have been very premature in dubbing our boys potential championship contenders. Let’s just say this, all the hoorays should be a bit more muffled until this squad beats a few clubs that are on the same level.

Every encounter the Blues have had with teams somewhat similar in skill has seemingly ended in a stalemate. Chelsea failed to beat Tottenham, despite being at home. Spurs are a talented and well-coached team, but no win in the derby cost the Blues a potential first place spot. They beat Leeds at home, another not so easy game, but Leeds is 14th in the table. Therefore, losing against a good—but out-of-form—Everton side is not a great sign. Chelsea is not beating anyone of real consequence and sadly, that means in reality, it is not a title challenger yet.

It’s mid-December and time for Chelsea to step up and beat the top teams who are now appearing on the schedule. After all, that is what title winning teams are all about. If this missive seems intended to dampen the over-the-top enthusiasm of Chelsea fans, that’s exactly what it is aspiring to do. Indeed, after this Everton loss, mustn’t we all slow down a bit?

Blues fans should be wary that the early success of the club may be attributed to the quality of opposition, rather than the excellence of the squad. The best is yet to come from the Blues’ best XI and the view on that has not changed. It’s unquestionably clear that the club has upgraded its talent in the past summer transfer window, but when will it start to really jell and show it’s full potential, by beating big teams?

Soon, we will see what steel this club is really made of, injuries notwithstanding. The Blues had a nice run against lesser teams, but now it’s time to step up and beat the big boys—the best teams, the cream of the crop. We’ll see shortly if Chelsea is ready to take that next step toward a title.