For a few weeks, it had looked like Chelsea were back on the right track. They had won four games on the trot. But all that momentum came to a sudden halt at Stamford Bridge at the weekend, as they lost at home to newly-promoted Sunderland. And one cannot shake off the feeling that it was a preventable defeat.
The game had started so well for Chelsea. Alejandro Garnacho gave them the lead and they had a few other chances as well.
But then, on the other end of the pitch, Chelsea had some terrible moments. Once again, they could not defeat a long throw-in and ended up conceding the equaliser. But even worse was the late winner. Despite Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo both being in the box, the Sunderland forward was allowed to hold up the ball for several seconds, as he waited for his teammates to join him and then set them up.
It was the kind of defensive display that has become far too common from Chelsea in recent times. Levi Colwill's injury has left a void in the defence that they have not been able to fulfil and not signing another centre-back in the summer was an error that might have doomed their campaign.
'Awful' - John Obi Mikel names players stopping Chelsea from winning Premier League
John Obi Mikel appears to believe that Chelsea will never win the Premier League with the centre-backs they have right now. He said on the Obi One Podcast:
"The way we conceded the last goal was just absolutely awful defending, awful defending.
“And you know, I mentioned it so many times, we can’t win. We just don’t have good enough defenders. We don’t have good enough defenders.
“The defenders that we have right now, the centre-backs that we have right now, we can’t win the Premier League with those centre-backs. We can’t win the Premier League."
It is hard to argue with that. Just a year ago, Chelsea seemed eager to show Chalobah the exit door. Now, he somehow finds himself as the club's first-choice centre-back. On the other hand, Tosin was brought in as a squad option but once again, he has found himself starting games on a consistent basis.
At the end of the day, in the absence of Colwill, Chelsea do not have a premier centre-back. You need two of those to win trophies these days. So, it is no surprise how badly they have struggled.