Chelsea and Jose Mourinho Have No Excuses If They Don't Win the Premier League

If last season taught us anything, it's that the race for the Premier League title isn't over until, well, it's over.

The top three teams—Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea—changed positions more often than the British weather as they jostled for supremacy.

When it seemed it was Chelsea's title, they threw it away with some rather shocking results against relegation candidates Crystal Palace and Sunderland.

And when it was Liverpool's turn, a 2-0 loss to Chelsea did for them, giving City the impetus to finally go on and take the crown.

Only this year, Jose Mourinho's side have bucked the trend.

Chelsea have led since the opening weekend, and now that Manchester City can no longer take points directly from them, they have a clean run until the end of the season.

Chelsea are in an enviable position. We're barely into February and everything is down to them. Regardless of what City do—or Manchester United, Southampton and Arsenal, for that matter—if Chelsea do their job, nobody can catch them.

They're not playing catch up, relying on the results of others. It's all on their shoulders.

They can't fail. If they do, it'll be a catastrophic collapse.

Mourinho has been as bold as ever in his approach, using the January transfer window to fine-tune his squad in key areas.

Out have gone Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah, replaced by Juan Cuadrado.

On the surface, it seems like good business: Two players who rarely featured in the past few months have been replaced by a man we're all expecting to play a big part between now and May.

Cuadrado's purchase has been bankrolled by Schurrle's move to Wolfsburg, and with two players off the wage list, the bank balance will be looking healthy.

The concern is that Cuadrado needs time to settle. Every now and then a player arrives from overseas and takes to the Premier League like a duck to water; but then, more often than not, it can be the reverse.

At this stage of the campaign, with so much riding on every game until the end of the season, Chelsea can't be carrying anyone.

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

It's for that reason Mourinho offloaded Schurrle and Salah when he did. They'd lost his trust and his view was clear: Cash in now, before it's too late.

The fixture list has been kind to Chelsea, though.

After being let off the hook against City at the weekend, they don't face a team from the top half of the table until they travel across London to play West Ham United on Mar. 4.

Southampton soon follow, yet it's more than a month or so before a double-header with Manchester United and Arsenal in late April.

By which time, if the gap remains as it is, the games will be running out for Manuel Pellegrini's side to claw back those points at the top.

Feb. 7	Aston Villa	(A)
Feb. 11	Everton	(H)
Feb. 21	Burnley	(H)
Mar. 4	West Ham	(A)
Mar. 15	Southampton	(H)
Mar. 22	Hull	(A)

When the fixture list was first published last summer, facing United and the Gunners within a week of each other was being marked as a crucial stage of the season for Chelsea's title bid.

Now they're so well placed—and out of the FA Cup—that time is in fact now.

Yes, it's the Premier League and all the cliches of there never being an easy game will form an orderly queue to bombard those suggesting otherwise.

But then this is Chelsea, Mourinho's Chelsea. The stereotype doesn't buy into that philosophy.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Besides, if Chelsea do indeed have the title credentials we've been so eager to pin on them all campaign, the likes of Everton, Aston Villa and Burnley should be put to bed in February.

That will leave Chelsea sitting ever prettier with less than three months remaining.

Pellegrini will give his players hope the title race isn't over after watching his team outplay Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Of course he will. Like so many others, though, he knows this title is Chelsea's to lose now.

Over to you Jose—just don't blow it.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes