Chelsea

Mid-season report: Chelsea

By Pascal Lemesre, Football League Editor | 28 December 2012

Another season, another managerial shake-up at Chelsea. Sports Mole looks at the Blues' first half of the season under both Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael Benitez.

Midway through another Premier League season and, stop the press, Chelsea have changed managers once more this campaign.

Despite achieving the feat of Champions League success, Roberto Di Matteo's permanent reign at his former club didn't last long after a disappointing showing in this year's European competition.

Former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has since been brought in. However, he is seemingly a temporary stop-gap before the likes of Pep Guardiola can be acquired.

Below, Sports Mole attempts to make sense of another turbulent season at the Bridge.

August

Before the Premier League season could begin, Chelsea had to face champions Manchester City in the Community Shield. The first silverware of the season went to Roberto Mancini's side as City won through 3-2 against a 10-man Chelsea side.

There were no such problems in the league, however, as the Blues stormed to the top of the table early on thanks to victories over Wigan, Reading and Newcastle. Big summer signing Eden Hazard was proving to be Di Matteo's star man from the word go.

The final day of the month saw Chelsea travel to Monaco for the UEFA Super Cup. Despite winning Europe's elite competition, the Blues were consummately dealt with by the sister Europa League's champions, Atletico Madrid, with Radamel Falcao recording an exquisite first-half hat-trick in a 4-1 win.

September

Di Matteo's 100% start to the Premier League was halted by West London neighbours QPR before the first game of their Champions League defence four days later.

Juventus visited the Stamford Bridge and it was looking rosy for Chelsea after a sublime Oscar brace but the Italian champions roared back to claim a point.

The Blues' league form went from strength to strength though with further wins against Stoke and Arsenal either side of a demolition of Wolves in the Capital One Cup.

October

A comfortable night at Danish minnows Nordsjaelland began October before Di Matteo's men opened up a seven-point gap at the top of the table with maximums over Norwich and Spurs.

The Blues were becoming unstoppable domestically but they were humbled by Shakhtar Donetsk in a tough trip to Ukraine and soon their unbeaten league run was over.

October finished with two games against title rivals Manchester United at the Bridge. The first was a league game that United came through 3-2 against a nine-man Chelsea side.

The Blues got revenge three days later in the Capital One Cup, however. It was another high-scoring affair, but this time it was Chelsea tasting victory as they knocked out Sir Alex Ferguson's men 5-4 after extra time.

November

The club's domestic campaign continued to stutter as Swansea stole a point before the Blues steadied their European campaign thanks to Victor Moses's last-gasp winner in the Shakhtar reverse.

Di Matteo couldn't pick up a win in the league though and Chelsea were soon overtaken at the top as Liverpool left the Bridge with a point and West Brom continued their form by edging it at The Hawthorns.

It went from bad to worse for Di Matteo as his side went down in Turin to Juventus to leave their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League last 16 in tatters. The Italian paid for this loss with his job and Roman Abramovich's decision to remove Di Matteo did not go down well with the fans.

The Blues faithful were even less enamoured with their owner when he brought in Rafael Benitez as 'interim' first-team coach. The former Liverpool coach's first game in charge was against City and the Spaniard managed to secure a draw in a Sunday afternoon stalemate.

Benitez was still looking for his first win as manager going into December after another a second consecutive goalless draw at home, this time to local rivals Fulham.

December

Benitez suffered his first defeat at West Ham in a sorry start to the final month of 2012. Three points were just around the corner but they came only against Nordsjaelland on a night when Chelsea's exit from the Champions League at the first possible hurdle was confirmed.

Having worked with misfiring Fernando Torres at Anfield, Benitez appeared to be getting the best out of his number nine as the frontman netted a classy brace against Sunderland in Benitez's first league win.

Next up was a trip halfway around the globe for the Club World Cup in Japan. Chelsea made it through to the final easily but they couldn't claim the world crown as Corinthians caused an upset in Yokohama.

The Blues were still going strong in the Capital One Cup though as they came from behind to batter Leeds to reach the last four of the League Cup.

Lowly Aston Villa were annihilated and hit for eight in the next before Chelsea moved within four points of City in second place with victory at Norwich on Boxing Day.

At the halfway point, Chelsea have a game in-hand on their rivals at the top of the table. If Benitez is to stake a claim for the permanent post he will need to keep pace with the Manchester clubs and perhaps win both the League and FA Cups. If none of the above materialises then it's likely that Benitez's time at the Bridge will be up.