The wheels of Chelsea's title defence started wobbling with the opening day defeat to Burnley. That defeat was a symptom of a bad summer which has become the hallmark of the club in recent times.
But with Antonio Conte at the helm, it's rare for Chelsea to follow up a disappointing result with another. Setbacks are always quickly addressed in the following fixture since the Italian took over. So it's little wonder that, that opening day defeat was followed by an efficient 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at the Wembley Stadium.
As Manchester City continue to run away with the title with 16 wins from its opening 17 league matches, the chasing pack have struggled to stay in touch with the Etihad outfit. The Premier League Champions are 14 points behind the league leaders going into Week 18 of the Premier League.
While Chelsea have suffered further defeats to West Ham, Crystal Palace and the aforementioned Manchester City, Pep Guardiola's side are still undefeated.
Chelsea's summer business didn't summarily weaken the team in the real sense of the word. Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Antonio Rudiger were direct replacements for Diego Costa, Matic and John Terry.
Whether the new arrivals were improvements on the departures is a subjective matter especially as it relate to the former two. Where the club missed it was the number of players brought in. The depth of the squad was a question last season, but it wasn't obvious because of the lack of European football. But the foray into the Champions League this season has exposed the serious lack of depth at Antonio Conte's disposal.
The squad struggles to essentially put together two committed displays in a one week as reflected by the pattern of their league defeats this season.
The defeat to Manchester City came after the solid win over Atletico Madrid in Spain. While the defeat to West Ham came after the draw against Atletico at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea have what could best be described as the next best thing after Manchester City's Pep Guardiola in Antonio Conte, but the way both clubs supported their managers in the last transfer window is a reflection of the priorities of the club.
While, Manchester City have a clear plan to rub shoulders with the top echelons of clubs in European football, the same cannot confidently be said of Chelsea. Whose reluctance to back their manager in the transfer market masks a trail that has continued to unfold after each title win. Little wonder that Chelsea's title defence like the last under Jose Mourinho has ended ingloriously.
It remains to be seen how Chelsea juggle the run in between now and the round of 16 meeting with Barcelona in February 2018 in the Champions League. But, one thing is clear, Chelsea are unlikely to suffer further set backs in the league with European football now on break until next year.
Chelsea's title challenge hasn't gone smoothly due to a poor summer. In time past, this could have been addressed in the January transfer window with enough room to make up the deficit. But Manchester City's steamroller has likely put paid to that in terms of it having an effect on a title challenge.
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