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In an entertaining Premier League encounter at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City defeated Chelsea 2-1 to climb to third place in the table, two points above their opponents. Ngolo Kante gave Chelsea the lead in the 21st minute but City replied with two quick goals in the first half through Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez.
This defeat ended Chelsea's streak of six consecutive victories in the Premier League. Having had a troubled summer in which they had a transfer ban and lost both talisman Eden Hazard and manager Maurizio Sarri, the general expectations at the club were at an all-time low since Roman Abramovic's era begun.
However, the Blues have surprised one and all. Despite having a troubled start to the season where they only won two of their first six games, Frank Lampard's side have recovered in style and find themselves seven points clear in fourth place in the fight for Champions league.
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Big-game record
However, the defeat to City has raised a few questions, especially around Chelsea's credentials in big games. In his last punditry stint before taking over the manager's job at Tottenham Hotspur, Jose Mourinho had raised a concern about the same. The result at the Etihad has made a lot of people remember his words.
In the Premier League, the Blues have played three of the "Big 6" and have lost all those encounters. They first suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. After that, they lost 2-1 to Liverpool at home before losing away to Manchester City by the same scoreline.
While there is no hiding away from the results, there is always context to consider. The league game at United was the first game of the season and was an aberration by all means. The Blues hit the post twice in the first half and largely dominated the ball. While they crumbled after conceding the second goal, the scoreline was ultimately flattering for the hosts as the United manager admitted later.
People are bound to point to Chelsea's Carabao Cup defeat to the same opponent and one would feel that looking at United's form, the Europa League champions should be winning especially playing at home. However, it is worth pointing out that while the hosts had made a host of changes to their starting XI for that game Ole Gunnar Solksjaer had fielded most of his first-choice players.
Coming to the games against City and Liverpool, the first question one is bound to ask is that is the defeat in those encounters anything out of ordinary? Is it really a surprise that there is a quality gap between a team as young as Chelsea's and two teams who hold the record for most points achieved in Premier League history.
It is worth noting that since the start of 2018, Liverpool have just lost three league games in the Premier League while, since Pep Guardiola's arrival in 2016, Manchester City have just been defeated three times at the Etihad Stadium in the League. There is certainly no shame in losing to these two teams especially by such a slender scoreline.
The job Lampard has taken over at Chelsea is clearly a long-term project and not just about immediate results. In that context, one needs to look beyond the scoreboard and look at the performances. For that reason, the Stamford Bridge faithful have come out optimistic from the league defeats to these two teams as well the Super Cup loss to Liverpool. In all three matches, Chelsea went toe to toe with English and European champions and on another day, it could have easily been a different result.
Against Klopp's outfit on both occasions, the Blues dominated them for large parts of game and were ultimately left ruing missed chances. On other hand in the defeat on Saturday, a unique record was set as it was the least possession a Pep Guardiola team had kept in a league match in his career. While keeping more possession is not a big deal but in this particular instance, it signifies that the Blues are on the right track.
While Mourinho said that lack of "pragmatism" is the reason, it is hard to watch those games individually and blame Lampard's tactics for what happened. At the moment, its minor details that are making the difference. Both Manchester City and Liverpool are well-established teams who know how to cross the line in close matches and that is something this young group at Chelsea has to learn and will need time. The dramatic comeback against Ajax from 4-1 down to make it 4-4 at Stamford Bridge and away victories against Ajax and Lille show that the West London outfit is not far away from achieving that goal.
The bigger picture
So far Frank Lampard's side has surpassed all expectations but fans must be careful to not set unfair expectations as a result of it. One must not forget the circumstances in which Chelsea started the season or how young and inexperienced both the squad and the manager is.
This season was always about the bigger picture and setting a base for the future. So far, Stamford Bridge has seen more than enough evidence to see that Lampard is taking Chelsea in the right direction. However, in attempting to learn the style of play that the Englishman is trying to implement, there are bound to be naive mistakes like we saw at Etihad last weekend.
As the season goes on, more setbacks are bound to happen as these players learn their trade in the big league. People will remember this happening to both City and Liverpool for some time when their current managers took over but that is part of the process and will help Chelsea become a better team in the future like those two have become now.
If the results in big matches continue to be a problem in the second half of the season, there will be legitimate grounds to ask questions. For now, it is simply too early. Some patience, time, and investment should see Chelsea on track to compete for the biggest trophies again.
