Where are Chelsea’s strike-force going wrong?

After Chelsea’s late defeat to Sunderland in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night, Blues fans will almost certainly have consoled themselves with the thought they are only two points off the top of the Premier League and have a good chance of reaching at least the quarter finals of the Champions League.

But manager Jose Mourinho isn’t happy. His strikers aren’t performing to his expectations, and if they don’t improve it could severely dent their chances of picking up silverware this season.

Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto’o have two goals apiece in the Premier League, while Demba Ba has only registered one strike in the English top flight so far. Chelsea have the fourth-highest goal tally, but their strikers have contributed under a sixth of them.

Everyone knows the Torres of Liverpool never arrived when he moved to west London, but there have been several fleeting glimpses over the past 12 months that the Spaniard might be transforming his style and becoming a key player once again. It’s the goal tally that counts, though, and two goals in 12 league appearances this season is not enough when leading the line for a title-challenging side.

In Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, Torres opened the scoring early on, but then failed to register another attempt for the remainder of the match. It was a fairly abject performance and echoed his current low confidence – the old Torres would have at least tried to get more shots away.

Unfortunately, though, it’s not just the lack of shooting that’s the issue. While strikers are obviously expected to score plenty, they also need to be the fulcrum of their team’s attacks, be it either holding the ball up, getting on the end of a cross or being the one to play that killer pass through to a team-mate.

For Chelsea at the moment, the front men don’t do this. Against Palace Torres’ passing accuracy was way down at 60 per cent, while none of the three are averaging over 80% accuracy in the Premier League so far this season.

Compare this to the impact of the league’s current top scorer, Luis Suarez, who has bagged an incredible 17 goals in 11 games. Suarez also boasts the highest overall Squawka Performance Score for the Reds and is second only to Steven Gerrard in terms of chances created, with four assists and 32 chances created in total.

It’s this kind of contribution in terms of both goals and what he adds to the team elsewhere that makes him a very – if not the most – dangerous player in the Premier League at the moment, and this is exactly the kind of player Mourinho wants, and needs, for his title challenge.

Looking at the current top four, it’s only Chelsea who don’t have an in-form striker.Arsenal have Olivier Giroud, Liverpool have Suarez, and although Manchester Cityare set to be without the prolific Sergio Aguero through injury, they still have Alvaro Negredo at their disposal.

The Christmas and New Year period is a vital time in the Premier League, with games scheduled so closely together. If the Blues can’t solve their striker issue and start killing off games, they are going to rapidly slide out of the title race.