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Bleak future beckons after Man City 3-1 blast
Touted as realistic contenders after an impressive start to the season until early December, Chelsea’s dreams are now in tatters and their die-hard supporters are not finding the downward slide amusing.
Rapidly their Premiership title musings are fast fading. For now, club legend and current manager, Frank Lampard is under fire for tutoring an underperforming side.
With a torrid run of results that saw Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City humbling them 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Lampard has found his managerial position currently under scrutiny.
After a run of just one victory in their last six games, the Blues find themselves eighth in the table and Lampard is left rueing what may have gone wrong.
Expectedly, pressure is mounting on him and rightly so given recent embarrassing results. The club’s all-time low came Sunday night at their Stamford Bridge home turf as Manchester City dominated proceedings to run away 3-1 winners.
The match could have ended with City scoring more. They had arrived in west London without six first team players due to positive COVID-19 tests, but their absence was barely noticed as City out-ran; out-thought; and utterly outplayed their hosts on the night.
Chelsea were defenceless to City’s pressing and movement, with Lampard’s team barely threatening debutant goalkeeper, Zack Steffen in the City goal until Callum Hudson-Odoi’s stoppage-time goal as they suffered a fourth league defeat since December 12, 2020.
Regularly finding themselves pinned back by a City team that started without a recognised striker, Chelsea were clueless as the midfield runs of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan caused them countless problems.
Full-backs Cesar Azpilicueta and Ben Chilwell both lost their own individual battles while centre-back duo Kurt Zouma and Thiago Silva, who have been rock solid throughout the majority of the campaign, were seen arguing with one another after an early missed opportunity by De Bruyne.
For now, Lampard’s men find themselves on 26 points after 17 matches, which is three fewer than they had accrued at this stage of last season.
That should be concerning for Lampard and the club’s hierarchy, given the Blues have never finished higher than sixth when amassing 26 points or fewer after this many games.
Winter has been bleak for Lampard, and though they are far from out of the race for a top-four finish, a lot more was expected given the summer expenditure and the talent that was already in Lampard’s squad.
If Lampard cannot turn this run of poor form around quickly, then even a club legend is not immune from being dumped among the junkyard of former Chelsea mangers.
And the biggest fight of Lampard’s young managerial career starts now. – With Goal.com reports
