Mourinho's Chelsea look unstoppable this season

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho congratulates Gary Cahill

Mourinho’s managerial genius is starting to show at Stamford Bridge. A slow start to the season had some fans worried about Jose’s ability to manage a team packed with ‘flair’ players. Add to that, the (deceptively) good start for Arsenal and Man United’s horror show, Chelsea have been largely under the radar.

While Arsenal were cruising past minnows, Chelsea were grinding out results against the big teams. Mourinho was criticized for being defensive against Manchester United, but a point at Old Trafford is golden in any season. Wenger might go all out at Old Trafford and lose out to a counter attacking team, but Jose is a calculating man, foscused on winning the Premier League.

Chelsea also have the strongest squad in the PL, with only Manchester City coming close. The evidence was there to see against Arsenal, where Jose made 10 changes from the Man City game and still managed to outclass a strong Arsenal team at the Emirates. With only Man United left as a potential challenger, the Capital One Cup is almost in the bag for Chelsea.

In the Premier League, Chelsea have a relatively easy run going into the new year. Having ground out points against the likes of City, United and Spurs, Chelsea will look to cash in during this period. Bookies are betting heavily on Chelsea winning the League title and their nearest rivals are faltering. League leaders Arsenal are beginning to unravel when faced with tough teams and their shallow squad will not last long enough to stay in the title race come May.

Manchester City though have a deep and strong squad. But Manuel Pellegrini is still finding his feet in the English game and the performances have been inconsistent. Joe Hart‘s goalkeeping errors and Pellegrini’s indecisiveness in choosing center backs are a particular source of worry and could hinder their challenge.

Liverpool look like a threat this season too, but they suffer from a shallow squad like Arsenal and the little matter of not having won the title for two decades. Tottenham look good for a top four spot, having played the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea and they will definitely grow stronger once their clutch of new players learn to play together cohesively.

In the last few seasons, Chelsea have often fallen away despite doing well against title contenders. What they have been missing is consistency against the weaker teams in the league. Mourinho, with his pragmatic style will not want his team to slip up. The defeat to Basel in the Champions League group stage was a wake up call and reminded Mourinho how different this team was to the one he had left in 2007. But things are falling into place for Chelsea, as they always do under a new manager.