The worrying thing for Chelsea (and Utd) is that at the minute you look at the table and the teams above them are all solid, effective teams. It’s unlikely over the next few seasons they’ll all stay at that level of course, but even so it’s a problem.
In the past when they (or Liverpool, or Arsenal) have fallen out the top four it was very easy to see it as a blip even if the fall was heavy and somewhat prolonged. The way back up was still generally relatively clear - when Chelsea finished 10th it was still something of a joke to say they were a “mid table” side (indeed - they won it the next year!).
At the minute it’s hard to see how that is the case anymore though, the strength in depth across the top half of the league is enormous. Chelsea are currently mid table, it’s not a flippant thing to say, and they have a huge task to turn that around.
The worrying thing for Chelsea (and Utd) is that at the minute you look at the table and the teams above them are all solid, effective teams. It’s unlikely over the next few seasons they’ll all stay at that level of course, but even so it’s a problem.
In the past when they (or Liverpool, or Arsenal) have fallen out the top four it was very easy to see it as a blip even if the fall was heavy and somewhat prolonged. The way back up was still generally relatively clear - when Chelsea finished 10th it was still something of a joke to say they were a “mid table” side (indeed - they won it the next year!).
At the minute it’s hard to see how that is the case anymore though, the strength in depth across the top half of the league is enormous. Chelsea are currently mid table, it’s not a flippant thing to say, and they have a huge task to turn that around.