Feeling The Blue

When the season started back in September; none other than yours truly proclaimed that Chelsea would win the Premier League. In a four-way contest between Manchester City; Liverpool; Chelsea & Manchester United; I felt that the presence of Lukaku; newly matured as a striker after a smashing season with Serie A champions Inter Milan; would be the striker Chelsea needed and take them over the edge. I could not have been more wrong.

Oh it started well enough. Displaying a new-found ability to play with his back to the basket instead of foraging against attackers; Lukaku added a new dimension to Chelsea as they soared near the top of the table. However; as things wore on; it became clear that Chelsea; and Lukaku; were not going to be anywhere near the championship race. As the Blues kept dropping points from inexplicable positions; Lukaku's form started to deteriorate; capped off by the infamous interview rant against Thomas Tuchel on live TV.

Slowly but surely; Tuchel had to react. Faced with an impossible position; he dropped Lukaku; and slowly the poison started to seep in. The bad blood stated to foster throughout the club; and they started falling away badly from the title race. The PTSD look at Goodison seemed to sum it all up. The return has not gone well. So badly that Chelsea have more or less decided that Lukaku should be anywhere but Stamford Bridge; sending him back to Inter Milan on loan in a rather desperate manoeuvre. But far from being a blip; he follows the footsteps of such luminaries as Andrei Shevchenko; Fernando Torres and even Timo Werner; whose time at Chelsea has failed to fire.