5 factors that derailed Chelsea's 2017/18 season

#3 New signings struggled to fit in

New signings such as Tiemoue Bakayoko have struggled to fit in at Stamford Bridge

Antonio Conte might’ve complained about the amount of money that was made available for him to spend on new players this season. Unfortunately, despite a large amount being spent, Chelsea’s new signings this season haven’t exactly set the world alight.

Despite breaking Chelsea’s transfer record, striker Alvaro Morata has scored just 11 goals in Premier League action – a terrible return in comparison to other top strikers like Mo Salah, Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku.

Midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko has looked horribly out of his depth basically every time he’s played, while Davide Zappacosta, Danny Drinkwater, Ross Barkley and Emerson Palmieri have barely even featured.

Defender Antonio Rudiger has performed decently, but Olivier Giroud has largely been used as a substitute by Conte despite scoring a decent 4 goals in 14 appearances. Essentially, Chelsea’s new signings have been busts this season, and given they’re all players who signed under his leadership, Conte must take some of the blame for their moves going badly wrong.

Throw in the sales of Nemanja Matic and Nathaniel Chalobah – players who probably would’ve out-performed Bakayoko – and the allowing of both Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Michy Batshuayi to go out on loan, and Chelsea’s disastrous form in the transfer market this season has definitely contributed to their poor season.