The title references of Chelsea were the city's conversation two months ago.
The men of Enzo Maresca saw a strong run from the end of October to mid -December in eight league matches and collect six victories along the way.
But since then, Chelsea has only won two of their last nine.
It is seeing that they go from Liverpool at the top of the table to 17 points in first place.
But what exactly went wrong at Stamford Bridge?
Here Sunssport's Anthony Chapman looks at the most important problems that promote the blues …
Palmer -Skinking
The young player of the year of last season should have demonstrated the first prize.
He helped himself an incredible 22 goals and 11 assists in 34 league outings.
And Palmer's freedom to drift from the right while teammates were walking their legs, played a major role in his number.
His form this season has still been good, with 14 goals and six assists so far.
But Palmer has left a lot in the last 11 games, coinciding with the Bare Run of Chelsea.
He only has three goals at the time, together with zero assists.
And Palmer's role as the central NO10 of the blues seems to choke its creativity instead of exposing it.
As the starman and playmaker of Chelsea, he is now closed by opponents from all over the field.
By standing in line the center, it becomes easier for defenders and midfielders, who are not afraid to double when other teammates cover lacunes to limit the space in and around channels.
Chelsea may now have to think about him again on the right, which would give Palmer more time to act and at the same time deal with fewer opponents.
But that would require some flexibility on the part of Maresca, which will be investigated later.
Not a striker
Don't forget Chelsea in January signed a striker – this problem dates from the transfer window of last summer.
The blues screamed for a focal point despite a decent debut season of Nicolas Jackson.
He took 14 goals and five assists that led the line under Pochettino.
Nevertheless, his preference to float wide and cut in to that Jackson was able to play on the wing.
That opened the door for Chelsea to sign a good scorer such as Victor Osimhen and Viktor Gyokeres.
Instead, the hierarchy decided to continue Jackson as a striker – while he made him the undisputed No1 to start up.
Just saw that Kid Marc Guiu participates, while two new Wingers in Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto were also added.
Quick Vooruit six months and Jackson has only nine league goals.
There has been no one to challenge him all season.
And now that he and Guiu are both injured, Chelsea has no 'recognized' striker in their team.
January marked the opportunity for the owners to correct the mistakes of last summer, even with only a signing of the loan.
Each attempt or effort would be welcomed by fans, even if that player turned out to be another Gonzalo Higuain or Alexandre Pato.
But more negligence on the attacking departments means that Chelsea looks less likely to hit the target in every passing match.
Rigid system
Some Chelsea fans still have sleepless nights that remember the days of Maurizio Sarri.
But despite all his mistakes, the stubborn, chain-smoking Italian managed third place while he also won the Europa League.
Just like his countryman, Maresca is in the sense that he refuses to shake things up from his chosen system and playing style.
Yet he will need a miracle if he wants to achieve a similar competition finish while he also packs a European trophy.
Maresca has shown that he is not going to leave his 4-2-3-1 form, which usually sees a full-back drift to midfield.
In the beginning the system worked quite well because it helped to build Chelsea with efficiency.
But just as Sarri's 4-3-3 was finally discovered, it feels like teams have finally thought of how they can stop Maresca's men to play.
Now it is Palmer, and not Jorginho, who is the center to dictate the pace.
And, as explained earlier, he is now levied out of the game and must be moved if he has to revitalize his season.
Maresca also clearly loves his favorite group of players, with under -performers such as Enzo Fernandez and Noni Madueke who regularly orders starting places.
Joao Felix was one of the most impressive attackers in Chelsea, even though it was mainly limited to the Conference League.
But a lack of opportunities saw him on loan to AC Milan, where Felix has already cemented a place in their starting XI.
Renato Veiga was another newly signed talent that insisted on a winter output after he had been left on the couch.
He now plays the leading role in his preferred position of Centrum-Back for Juventus, where manager Thiago Motta de Portugal International collapses as a signing that immediately brought about a revolution in their playing style.
Elsewhere Christopher Nunku did not get his move despite the interest from Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
He has now been thrown in like a striker after injuries to Jackson and Guiu.
But with the spirit of the Frenchman clearly elsewhere for a likely exit in the summer, he has not had any surprisingly no consequences in his last few performances.
And unless Maresca can think outside the frameworks, Chelsea will probably continue to fall through the table while opponents easily block them.
The Italian shape for this kind of malaise. Last season, despite the fact that Leicester was promoted, they were much worse in the second half of the campaign.
History repeats itself in Chelsea, with a profit percentage of only 30% since Christmas.
Goalkeeper Wee
Signing the goalkeeper of Brighton would always be controversial.
But the insistence of Maresca to holding Robert Sanchez has until recently played a major role in the poor form of Chelsea.
The Spaniard has only held four clean sheets in 21 trips this period and has given 27 goals.
He also made huge five mistakes that lead to goals.
And at the age of 27, Sanchez will not get better – despite the fact that those in Chelsea are said to believe that he will eventually do that.
Pochettino soon saw that Sanchez was not reliable and instead hassle for Djordje Petrovic.
The Serbian was an immediate upgrade, but was lent bizarre to Strasbourg last summer after Maresca grinned on his apparent lack of quality on the ball.
Sanchez has certainly not shown that he is also an upgrade in that department.
His pass hindrance is only 69.8 percent, with Sanchez also showing a clear tendency to have to put the ball into the field as soon as the defenders of Chelsea are back in their own box.
Maresca finally seems to be useful after starting Filip Jorgensen in the last two league matches of Chelsea.
However, the DANE sent four goals at that time – including three in Brighton's last defeat.
Jorgensen must now get the chance to start for the rest of the season to see if he is able to be a long -term NO1.
But as long as Chelsea continues to wiggle between the sticks, they will never find the defensive stability that fans crave.
Legend -backlash
It is one thing for supporters to scream the opportunities about the way their club is run.
But when club legends openly close the situation, this can only mean that things are really in a bad condition.
These players know the ins and outs of the club, after they have won trophies while playing at the highest level.
Yet the extra negativity of those who have been there and have done it can have an effect on the moral of the current team.
Former defender Frank Leboeuf is someone who has not been shy when it comes to talking about Chelsea in recent years.
And he focused on the blues after their defeat by Brighton, and criticized the lack of intensity and fighting of players.
He said: “I saw a team giving up after the second goal. We didn't want to fight and didn't know what to do.
“That was so bad and so unprofessional.”
William Gallas had not even waited for the season to start when he hit the quality of the Chelsea team, while he insisted that they will not end in the top four.
He roared: “I look at this team of players and I hardly see enough quality.
“There is no way they would come into the best Chelsea teams – half would not even get on the couch.
“They are not good enough to win a title, which should always be the goal of a club like Chelsea.
“Are they good enough to qualify for the Champions League? I have serious doubts.
“I no longer recognize this version of Chelsea.”
The greatest critic of Chelsea is two -time title winner and Champions League Victor John Obi Mikel.
He openly destroyed their club and their new owners this season.
And after Maresca claimed that ending in the top four was the final goal of a two -year project, Mikel exploded with anger on his podcast.
The former midfielder shouted: “Who told the F ** k? Are you fatten f *****? This is Chelsea Football Club.
“No lack of respect for Leicester where he comes from, this is F ***** G Chelsea. We are a Champions League club.
“We have always been to the Champions League. I have never viewed a ***** G game in the Conference League. I don't care, that's not who we are.
“For me, for him to come out and say that we are for schedule, no, you are not. We should be there.
“I think that the remark that the manager made that we are not contenders to win the title that has come into the heads of players and since then the whole thing has finished ***** G.”
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