Chelsea's season is in danger of becoming a complete failure. On Sunday, despite being relatively competitive in the first half, the Blues were ultimately easily beaten 3-0 by Manchester City, conceding three times in 17 minutes.
Following on from losses at the hands of Newcastle and Everton, Chelsea have now suffered three successive Premier League defeats without scoring for the first time since March 1998, actually a sequence of four.
Ruud Gullit was sacked during this run and replaced by Gianluca Vialli, who would go on to finish fourth in the table and win both the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. 28 years on, and Liam Rosenior would certainly settle for something similar, but that does not appear likely at this moment in time.
Rosenior did win his first four Premier League matches upon arriving at Stamford Bridge, but, since then, they've yielded just five points from seven outings, their sole victory since 7 February coming at Villa Park. As a result, they remain sixth, four points below Liverpool and seven adrift of Aston Villa, with Brentford, Everton, Brighton and Sunderland either only one or two points behind. There is, though, still so much to play for.
Chelsea's remaining fixtures
- Saturday 18 April. Manchester United - Stamford Bridge. Kick off 8pm.
- Tuesday 21 April. Brighton & Hove Albion - Falmer Stadium. Kick off 8pm.
- Sunday 26 April. Leeds United - Wembley. FA Cup semi-final. Kick off 3pm.
- Monday 4 May. Nottingham Forest - Stamford Bridge. Kick off 3pm.
- Saturday 9 May. Liverpool - Anfield. Kick off 12:30pm.
- Saturday 16 May. Potential FA Cup Final vs Manchester City or Southampton.
- Sunday 17 May. Tottenham Hotspur - Stamford Bridge. Kick off TBC. Will be rearranged should Chelsea reach the FA Cup Final.
- Sunday 24 May. Sunderland - Stadium of Light. Kick off 4pm.
The upcoming week or so could be defining for Rosenior as Chelsea manager. Next Saturday night, as they seek a first league win at Stamford Bridge since January, third-place Manchester United will visit West London, in a game the feels must win for the Blues.
Three nights later, they'll take on in-form Brighton by the South Coast, before an FA Cup semi-final against fierce rivals Leeds at Wembley. The Blues failed to beat Daniel Farke's side either home or away this season, so certainly cannot take the West Yorkshire-based outfit lightly.
In short, mirroring the aforementioned 1997/98 campaign, Chelsea have changed manager mid-way through and, back then, secured a top four finish as well as picking up two trophies. Similarly, Rosenior's side are still in the hunt for Champions League qualification and could win the FA Cup albeit, with Man City the most-likely other finalists, they will be far from favourites to do so.
The Blues' remaining six league fixtures are unlikely to be straight-forward, hence why a top five spot now appears something of a long-shot. If they do end up in the Europa League or even back in the Conference League, one would have to imagine that BlueCo would seriously consider changing manager again. Gary O'Neil is currently the Strasbourg head coach, so it would probably be him.