We thought things were getting better, but it’s the blues for the Blues.
After a week of feeling good about itself, coming off a big 5-0 win over Huddersfield and seeing Eden Hazard and new arrival Gonzalo Higuain thrive, Chelsea was quickly brought down to earth with a confidence-shattering 6-0 defeat at Manchester City. It was the biggest Premier League loss in the club’s history.
This wasn’t the first time that City has scored six in a game this season, but the previous two occasions came against relegation battlers Huddersfield and Southampton.
This was Chelsea, a team that’s sixth in the league and had nearly gone into December unbeaten.
Now, it has lost three out of its past four, with the aggregate score of the losses 12-0.
Manager Maurizio Sarri was understandably upset after the game, refusing to shake hands with City counterpart Pep Guardiola. Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger stayed on the field after the game to apologize to travelling fans.
After a display like this, it’s no wonder that Eden Hazard has reportedly made his decision to leave the club in the summer, eying a big-money transfer to Real Madrid. Who exactly Chelsea would replace him with is a tough question, considering the Belgian’s immense talent.
There should be plenty of questions about whether Sarri is the right man for this club. After that long unbeaten run, the team seems disinterested at times.
Jorginho seemingly gets Sarri’s system, but he’s playing in N’Golo Kante’s natural position and the Frenchman is only one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. And there was at least one instance in which the Brazilian wasn’t putting in much effort to track back on Sunday.
David Luiz is capable of making the passes to be a good player in Sarri’s system, but he has been a liability on the back line this season, often being beaten and outworked by opposing attackers.
Speaking of defenders who don’t actually do much defending, Marcos Alonso hasn’t brought in any attacking returns since Gameweek 11 against Crystal Palace. If a defender is going to get forward as often as the Spaniard does, he better be producing on the scoreboard.
Chelsea has a lot of questions that need to be answered. Perhaps the biggest is  whether or not Roman Abramovich will show patience with Sarri – something that the owner has famously eschewed with past managers. And, if Sarri is cut loose after this season gone wrong (or during it), who is next to take the helm?
We hear that Jose Mourinho is available…
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the second time in two weeks, Sergio Aguero scored a hat trick.
More impressive: He did it against a top-six club for the second week in a row. In fact, Aguero has 43 goals against the ‘Big Six’ clubs since 2011-12, which is 14 more than the next highest scorer, Jamie Vardy.
Even more impressive: He did it in just 64 minutes before being subbed off in preparation for a mid-week Champions League tilt.
After scoring three against Arsenal last week, Aguero repeated the feat against visiting Chelsea as part of City’s 6-0 demolition of the Blues.
It was his 11th career hat trick, equaling the record set by Alan Shearer, who did it with Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle.
Kun is now tied with Mohamed Salah atop the scoring charts with 17 goals this season, meaning that’s just one more race between City and Liverpool that should be heated down the home stretch.
It also raises a bigger question for another day: Is Aguero the best striker in Premier League history? His 160 goals in eight seasons (including the current campaign) have him ranked eighth overall. That’s 100 behind Shearer, who accomplished that total over 14 seasons. At Kun’s current pace of 20 goals per season, he’ll pass Shearer if he plays five more years in the Prem.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Quite the fantasy turnaround for Saed Kolasinac owners on Saturday. He went from nabbing 13 points with 90 minutes played, an assist and a clean sheet to just two points after scoring an own goal in the third minute of injury time … This might shock you, but Burnley hasn’t lost a Premier League match in 2019. Including a draw against West Ham on Dec. 30, 2018, the Clarets are on a seven-game unbeaten run in league play … After winning the EPL player of the month award for January, Marcus Rashford was given the weekend off by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – himself the winner of manager of the month … Under Solskjaer, Paul Pogba has looked like the player everybody thought he could be. He has racked up eight goals and five assists in 11 games under the new manager, proving to be worth every cent of his record transfer fee and further demonstrating how Jose Mourinho was wasting him in a more defensive role … Ryan Babel, who has looked fairly good since coming back to the Prem with Fulham after some seasons abroad, managed to hit the post from about a yard out. Unsurprisingly, he was subbed off almost immediately after … It has been five years, or 154 matches, since Newcastle have had an opponent get a man sent off in the Premier League.
THE LAST WORD
Perhaps the biggest streak that isn’t garnering much attention right now is what Tottenham has accomplished dating back to last season.
Spurs hasn’t had a draw in Premier League play in 30 games. This season, they have 20 wins, six losses and no draws after finishing the final four games of the 2017-18 season with three wins and loss.
This season alone, Southampton has nine draws while the team with the second fewest, Man City, has two.
The funniest thing about draws is that you never know when they’re going to come. It’s always easier to predict wins and losses, but you’ll rarely see someone call for a draw.
Looking ahead in the league, Burnley is next but then come two big matchups at Chelsea and then home to Arsenal. While any of those three fixtures could end knotted up, all we’re rooting for now is that Tottenham somehow goes an entire season without a draw. That would put some critics in their place.