Chelsea’s poor form since Christmas has gone almost under the radar. It has seen us fall from third on the coattails of United to fifth and the ignominy of following another league-winning season by failing to qualify for the Champions League.

Antonio Conte has suggested there is a fixture conspiracy against his Chelsea side.

After the heights of our fabulous Madrid performance, the City game was a hell of a crash landing on Saturday evening.

The opening weekend of the season may be too early to talk of a crisis, but the mood music around Stamford Bridge is not good and Saturday’s humiliation by Burnley was not out of character from a club that has appeared dysfunctional since before becoming champions last May.

It felt like one of those slow-motion car-crash moments when Koscielny recklessly clattered into Valencia during last Sunday’s climax to our league campaign.

The ability of Chelsea as a football club to snatch ignominy from the jaws of victory can never be underestimated, although last night’s victory at the Hawthorns at least protects a memorable Premier League campaign with another title, their fifth of the Abramovich era, writes Allan Prosser.

Arsenal legend and club ambassador Liam Brady accepts that sections of the club’s fanbase are restless for a change of manager, but warns they may not find better than the “proven” Arsene Wenger.

A real feelgood factor reverberates around Stamford Bridge at the moment. A clearly delighted owner (who is STILL not bored — sorry!) is entertaining Chelsea alumni and American movie stars in his box, the current Chelsea team are playing with smiles on their faces and a swagger that only top spot and an average of two and a half points a game can give you and a manager is flinging himself with unbridled joyous abandon into the welcoming arms of the adoring SW6 faithful.

Jose Mourinho says he has no hard feelings about his sacking by Chelsea last year but admits Blues owner Roman Abramovich is not his “friend”.

Just after Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero completed his hat-trick, a glum Roman Abramovich was texting on his phone. Two thoughts went through my mind — firstly, how different things could have been, had we bought the talented Argentinian.

Antonio Conte yesterday confirmed the worst-kept secret in football as he was named as Chelsea’s new head coach yesterday.

Chelsea 3 Sunderland 1: Guus Hiddink will begin work at Chelsea’s plush Surrey training ground this morning with one of the biggest clubs in world football and an equally huge task in turning around their fortunes.

Chelsea were still deliberating whether to sack Jose Mourinho last night, as the future of the club’s most successful manager remains in the balance after a dismal first half of the season.

Leicester 2 Chelsea 1: Claudio Ranieri may deny it, but of all of his 10 wins as Leicester City manager, this will have surely been one of the sweetest. 

Jose Mourinho has refused to rule out Diego Costa returning to Atletico Madrid, but maintains the striker is happy at Chelsea.

To say victory over Porto is a definite turning point in Chelsea’s season — or even that it has saved Jose Mourinho’s job — would perhaps be overstating the point given the size of their problems, but it has certainly changed the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge and prevented history repeating itself.

For a manager again in danger of losing his job if he loses his next game, Jose Mourinho didn’t give away any signs of pressure in his demeanour ahead of Chelsea’s decisive Champions League match with FC Porto.

Chinese investors are paying $400m (€378m) for a stake in the group that owns soccer clubs including Manchester City and New York City FC, the country’s most significant overseas investment in the game.

After spending a few minutes talking about “disrespect” and criticising the media and others within football regarding the “excitement” at the prospect of someone losing their job, Jose Mourinho made a strong claim about his position and his state of mind.

One of the many charms of Jurgen Klopp is that unlike the person he could be succeeding at Anfield, he has the capacity to prompt people to chuckle with him rather than at him.

Chelsea manager José Mourinho faces a misconduct charge from the Football Association over comments he made after the 3-1 defeat to Southampton.

An afternoon which started with a huge social-media hoax about The Gobby One getting the boot ended with the Scousers stealing our thunder by sacking Brendan Rodgers. In between, we’ve witnessed the sort of complete performance from the Gunners against Manchester United that we’ve been waiting for, ever since Fergie sought refuge in his pipe and slippers.

It’s probably not one of my best ideas to write this article immediately after witnessing possibly one of the most gutless performances I have seen for a very long time. In the pub, everyone wants to apportion blame – it’s Ivanovic’s fault, it’s Mourinho’s fault, it’s John Terry’s fault, it’s Eva Carneiro’s fault – it’s all getting a bit heated.

Just a few minutes before Jose Mourinho appeared for his Friday press conference, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was driven into the club’s training ground, for a very rare appearance at the complex.

This was Jose’s 100th game as Chelsea manager at the Bridge. I fully expected the theme of this article to be his imperious home record. 

City looked immense. They were physical, skilful, pacey and on their game in every position.

It was as if someone “up there” was making mischief on Saturday to make us further miss the comforting sight of Cech on the bench.

Seems many pundits and papers have already announced this coming season’s league winners without a ball even being kicked. Apparently Arsenal have run away with it.

Jose Mourinho claims he supports Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s decision to sell Petr Cech to rivals Arsenal.

Petr Cech’s overwhelming desire to remain in the Premier League and Arsene Wenger’s persuasiveness were the motivating factors in the Czech goalkeeper’s move to Arsenal.

As I watched John Terry hold that Premier League trophy aloft it struck me how lucky we have been as fans in the last 10 years — not in terms of success — that goes without saying, but more in terms of the players that we have had the privilege of calling our own.

The financial fair play rules that saw Manchester City handed a huge fine by Uefa last season are set to be relaxed.