A former Chelsea star has emerged to brand the club a circus on the back of their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City, who were seemingly split by his former side.
The Blues' troubled run of form continued on Saturday as they crashed out against the defending Premier League champions, leaving their Champions League qualification hopes in doubt as they slipped out of the top five.
After an impressive start to the season that saw them become title contenders, Enzo Maresca's men have won just once in their last seven games and have also been second best at the Etihad.
Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden took an early lead through Noni Madueke and were all up to give City, who are starting to hit again themselves, the win.
Meanwhile, on social media, an ex-Chelsea player, who played for the club between 2017 and 2022, appeared to criticize the club as they shared a message to their 590,000 followers.
It was Danny Drinkwater who was the player in question, who was in town ending up at the Etihad to watch the game before turning his attention to his former side.
'For the Chelsea fan wondering why I'm in town…' he began. 'I asked the club for tickets!?!
“I didn't receive one,” he continued, accompanied by a circus emoji and an eye roll emoji.
Drinkwater joined the Blues in 2017 after winning the Premier League with Leicester, signing a five-year deal in a £35 million move that is remembered as one of the worst transfers in Premier League history.
In his first season with the club he made 22 appearances, but under Maurizio Sarri he played just once the following year before joining Burnley on loan.
He also played for Aston Villa, Kasimpasa in Turkey and Read before the now-34-yer-year-old was released by Chelsea in 2022 and he subsequently retired in October 2023. In total, he made 23 appearances for the London Club.
Drinkwater has been open about his off-field problems at Chelsea. In April 2019, he smashed his £125,000 Range Rover into a wall while over the limit, injuring two passengers and earning a 20-month driving ban.
He told the High Performance Podcast in October 2023: 'That was a huge wake-up sign for me. I was in the cell sobering up for 23 hours and I'm sitting in this cell thinking, 'What the f*** are you doing?'. That's when I started looking for outside help. '
He also used boozy nights out to find solace. “I tried to enjoy that side of life as a kind of cover for everything else,” he said.
On his Instagram account, his three pinned photos are all from his time at Chelsea, with the first coming when his move was confirmed eight years ago.
Another is a photo of him next to Claudio Raneiri, Eden Hazard and Ngolo Kante, while the third is him drinking a bottle of water in a blues kit.
He posted two Instagram stories from the game, with the first a video of the scoreboard when Chelsea were 1-0 up, accompanied by a series of eye emojis.
However, the second appeared to hit the club after he was questioned by fans about why he was in the home side.
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