Chelsea relegated. Could the unthinkable happen this season?

After six Premier League games this season, Chelsea has just five points and is four points above the relegation places. This is coming off the back of a historically poor season for the Blues. In the 2022/23 campaign, Chelsea finished a dismal 12th. The club’s 44 points were its fewest since the 1987/88 campaign. Chelsea suffered relegation from the top flight that season. Now, the form of Chelsea and its position early doors shows that relegation is a legitimate reality for the club.

This summer, Chelsea broke the bank again to bring in more potential stars. Todd Boehly and company broke the Premier League transfer record to lure Moises Caicedo over from Brighton. Moreover, the club dropped over $50 million each on Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, and Alex Disasi. However, Chelsea has one of the worst goal-scoring forms in the Premier League. With five goals in its six games so far, Chelsea’s lone win was a 3-0 dump of Luton Town.

Chelsea’s defense has been great. The club has conceded six goals, which is good enough for the third-best defense in the league. Only Manchester City and Liverpool have conceded fewer goals. Arsenal has the same number of goals conceded as Chelsea. Each of those three clubs is not only a contender for the Champions League, but they are contenders for the title. By comparison, Chelsea is in a totally different zone.

Is Chelsea a real relegation candidate this season

In 2023, Chelsea has been one of the worst teams in the Premier League. An aggregate table of the 17 teams competing in the Premier League consistently demonstrates the club’s struggles.

Out of those 17 clubs to be in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 Premier League seasons, Chelsea ranks 16th in the points table. Worse off, Chelsea has the fewest wins, five, of any of the clubs in the Premier League in 2023. By that standard, Chelsea appears to be a relegation candidate.

The one silver lining for Mauricio Pochettino’s side may be the fact that there are teams that are noticeably worse than Chelsea. Luton Town, Burnley, and Sheffield United currently sit in the bottom three of the Premier League. Those three teams came up from the Championship for this season, and each has looked weary in their brief time in the top flight. Each of those clubs is on one point, and they have the three worst goal differences in the league. As stated, Chelsea’s only win this season came against Luton Town, which is a team that looks likely to get relegated.

Chelsea has the talent to turn its season around. At least, it paid for that talent. Therefore, it is unlikely that Chelsea will be relegated from the Premier League given the teams beneath the Blues. However, if Chelsea continues to drop points, that slim possibility may continue to lurk in fans’ minds.

Chelsea has games in front of it where the club can get points. Fulham and Burnley are not the most challenging opponents in this season’s Premier League. However, after that, Chelsea faces Arsenal, Brentford, Tottenham, Manchester City, Newcastle, Brighton and Manchester United. That is one of the worst gauntlets possible in the Premier League. That could raise serious concern across Stamford Bridge if things go south.

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