12 June: Cesc Fabregas signs from Barcelona for £27m
A major transfer coup just before the start of the World Cup, as
Chelsea secure the Spaniard’s signature and prevent him returning to
rivals Arsenal.
15 July: Diego Costa signs from Atletico Madrid for £32m
The combative frontman’s long-mooted move to Stamford Bridge is
finally completed and Chelsea’s shortage of striking options, which had
cost them the previous season, is finally fixed.
18 August: Burnley 1 Chelsea3
Their new star striker grabs a debut goal and Cesc Fabregas puts
in a man-of-the-match performance, but the Blues have to come from
behind before they can dispatch newcomers Burnley.
23 August: Chelsea 2 Leicester 0
Didier Drogba’s return to Stamford Bridge is marked with another
hard-fought victory over another newly-promoted side. The heroics of
Thibaut Courtois in goal twice deny Leicester from taking an unlikely
lead.
30 August: Everton 3 Chelsea6
Jose Mourinho bemoans his team’s defending despite coming out on
top in a nine-goal thriller and maintaining their 100 per cent record.
"It was wonderful for everyone watching, but not for me," he said.
21 September: Man City 1 Chelsea1
Chelseaemerge from their first major test of the season unscathed
but their winning streak was broken by a late strike from, of all
people, Frank Lampard.
5 October: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0
The two managers come to blows on the touchline but Jose Mourinho
maintains his dominance over Arsene Wenger on the field in a convincing
and comfortable win - sealed by another Costa goal.
18 October: Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 2
A psychological boost. Defeat at Selhurst Park ended the club’s
title aspirations in 2013/14, but victory there this season took them
five points clear at the top.
26 October: Man Utd 1 Chelsea 1
More frustration in Manchester. Branislav Ivanovic saw red late on
and from the resulting free-kick, Robin van Persie lashed home a
stoppage-time equaliser to deny Chelsea all three points.
8 November: Liverpool 1 Chelsea 2
Despite falling behind early on, Diego Costa’s winner saw the
Blues emerge from Merseyside victorious. Gary Cahill was fortunate to
not concede a late penalty after handling on the line.
29 November: Sunderland 0 Chelsea 0
Chelsea drop points against a team outside the top four and fail
to score for the first time this season against former player Gus
Poyet’s disciplined and determined Sunderland side.
3 December: Chelsea 3 Tottenham 0
A win inspired by Didier Drogba, who recaptures his form of old by
setting up Eden Hazard’s opener and then finding the net himself.
Victory stretched unbeaten run to 23 games in all competitions,
equalling a club record.
6 December: Newcastle 2 Chelsea 1
The club’s aspirations of an invincible season go up in smoke a
few days later as a Papiss Cisse brace consigns them to their first
defeat of the season. The loss allowed Manchester City to cut the gap at
the top to three points.
29 December: Southampton 1 Chelsea1
The start of the infamous “campaign against Chelsea”. Jose
Mourinho describes match official Anthony Taylor’s performance as a
“scandal” and was later fined £25,000 for his comments regarding a
referee conspiracy.
1 January: Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3
With Harry Kane’s stock on the rise, Chelsea faltered. They were
destroyed by the young striker and, following the manic result, so was
their lead at the top of the table. Only alphabetical order separated
them from second-place Manchester City.
17 January: Swansea 0 Chelsea 5
A performance of champions, as the Blues begin to pull away from
the chasing pack. Oscar and Diego Costa fill their boots, grabbing two
goals each before the soon-to-depart Andre Schurrle adds a fifth.
30 January: Costa banned for three games after stamp on Can
AfterChelsea’s 2-1 aggregate victory over Liverpool in Capital One
Cup, FA slap a retrospective ban on Diego Costa for a nasty stamp on
Emre Can. He misses three Premier League fixtures, but Chelsea’s
strength in depth prevails as they win seven points out of nine.
31 January: Chelsea 1 Man City 1
Chelsea maintain five-point lead at the top of the table with a
dull stalemate. Loïc Rémy opens the scoring in Costa’s absence, before
Mourinho replaces him with Gary Cahill.
2 February: Juan Cuadrado signs
Wolfsburg-bound André Schürrle is replaced with Colombian winger
Juan Cuadrado, in a deal which sees Mohamed Salah move the other way. He
makes a rather inauspicious start to life at Stamford Bridge, but is
promised time.
21 February: Chelsea 1 Burnley 1
On the same day that Man City annihilate Newcastle 5-0, Chelsea
offer them some hope after Ben Mee grabs a late equaliser. Matic is sent
off and banned for retaliating to Ashley Barnes’ studs-up lunge.
2 March: Capital One Cup win
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Tottenham are successfully held at arm’s length for 90 minutes as
Jose Mourinho wins his first trophy since returning to the Bridge
without having to break a sweat.
11 March: Champions League: knocked out by PSG
The biggest disappointment of the season.Chelsea rue their
conservatism as they gift PSG - and goalscoring David Luiz - a route to
the quarter-finals.
15 March: Southampton 1 Chelsea 1
A Dustin Tadic penalty cancels out Costa’s headed opener, his 17th
goal of the season. It's the faintest glimmer of hope for chasing
Manchester City.
22 March: Hull 2 Chelsea 3
Despite throwing away an early two-goal advantage, Remy scores
late on to return Chelsea to winning ways. Which no doubt pleases
Thibaut Courtois, who gifted Hull a comic equaliser.
4 April: Diego Costa hamstring injury
Costa picks up recurrence of a muscular injury against Stoke, leaving Chelsea with a strikers crisis.
12 April: QPR 0 Chelsea 1
Arsenal’s hope of stealing the title suffer mortal blow when Cesc
FÃ bregas, complete with knock-off Batman mask, strikes late to sink QPR.
Chelsea have only one shot on goal to QPR’s 15: a different team
entirely to the beginning of the season. Boring, even?
26 April: ‘Boring Boring Chelsea’ war of words
The last time Chelsea won by more than one goal was back in
January, and soon every man and his dog are debating whether they’re a
boring team or not. Wenger seems to think so, as do the Emirates crowd
who sing ‘boring, boring Chelsea’. “Ten years without a title: that’s
very boring”, a mischievous Mourinho retorts.
26 April: Eden Hazard win PFA Player of the Year
Amongst the furore of ‘boregate’, it’s easy to forget the
thrilling football that won Chelsea their comfortable position atop the
table in the first place. Hazard consistently proved himself as the
club’s brightest star, capping off a season of increased maturity and
productivity with the PFA Award.
28 April: Drogba video
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Didier Drogba proves once and for all that people should think
twice before deriding Chelsea as boring, by posting a video of half the
squad thrillingly heading a football into a bin.
30 April: Leicester 1 Chelsea 3
An unstoppage second-half performance sees Mourinho's side
fightback from a goal down to move to within three points of their first
title since 2010.
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