How Much Things Have Changed at Chelsea in Just 1 Year

For Chelsea fans, the champions’ parade through the streets of London in May might feel a much more distant memory.

The Blues are defending Premier League champions and League Cup holders. They have the reigning Premier League Manager of the Year and Player of the Year and six members of last season's PFA Team of the Year in their ranks.

But a year has been an extraordinarily long time for Jose Mourinho’s team and has seen them slide down the Premier League at an alarming rate. They sit 15th in the table, and Tuesday’s defeat to Stoke City on penalties saw their defence of the Capital One Cup extinguished at the round-of-16 stage.

In contrast, at the end of October 2014, Chelsea were undefeated in the league and in Europe, scoring for fun and looking very hard to break down.

We’ll take a closer look at just how much things have changed at Stamford Bridge in just one year.

The Goalkeepers

IAN KINGTON/Getty Images

Chelsea are on track to surpass the number of goals they conceded in all of last season in half the number of games this time around.

And while it would be harsh to lay the blame at the feet (or hands) of the goalkeepers, perhaps the biggest contrast in their shot-stopping can be seen by looking at who has departed Stamford Bridge, rather than stayed.

Mourinho reluctantly parted ways with Petr Cech in the summer, allowing him to move across London to Arsenal.

Cech is seemingly a title contender with the Gunners. Chelsea trail the goalkeeper's new team, who are behind league leaders Manchester City on goal difference, by 11 points after just 10 games.

The Defenders

Jon Super/Associated Press

Three Chelsea players were named in last season's PFA Premier League Team of the Year: John Terry, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic.

It's a fair bet those three won't be making it into the 2016 edition.

Almost one year ago, Terry was making his 500th appearance as Chelsea captain. He was one of the mainstays of Mourinho's title-winning team and was named Man of the Match in the League Cup final in March.

Fast forward to October 2015, and the relationship between captain and manager appears to have strained. Terry has found himself in and out of Mourinho's preferred partnership at the back this season, and he received his first Premier League red card in five years against West Bromwich Albion in August, a week after being substituted for the first time under Mourinho in a league game.

Ivanovic was once labelled "the scariest player to play against" by Raheem Sterling on the MailOnline, but opponents haven't feared him at all this term. Bleacher Report's Garry Hayes recently took a closer look at the Serbian defender's form slump.

The Midfield

Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

Such a key component of Chelsea's title-winning team last season, Cesc Fabregas' form has dropped off sharply this season. The Daily Mail's Bob Treasure revealed the Spaniard has fallen well behind the likes of Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and David Silva in terms of chances created and has flattened out in terms of passing and assists.

Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard was tipped by his manager to kick on to become one of the greats this year, per the Mirror, but he has been largely hit and miss. The 2015 PFA Player of the Year and the man who scored Chelsea's title-clinching goal against Crystal Palace last term has netted just once for the Blues this season and saw his decisive penalty saved in the shootout loss to Stoke on Tuesday.

Even Nemanja Matic, whose partnership with Fabregas was one of the reasons Chelsea won back the Premier League last season, has been exposed this campaign and was sent off during the side's recent 2-1 loss to West Ham United at Upton Park.

The Strikers

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Diego Costa had scored nine league goals by the end of October 2014. He raced out of the blocks in his first season with Chelsea, becoming the first player to score seven goals in his first four Premier League games.

The contrast is quite remarkable. The Spaniard has scored just twice in the league this season and is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The scorer of 20 league goals in 2014-15 admitted he was overweight at the start of the season, relayed by the Daily Mail, and he suffered an injury on Tuesday night his boss attributed to Costa punching himself, per the Press Association (h/t the MailOnline).

As for his supporting cast? Radamel Falcao has yet to make a splash at Stamford Bridge. The man he replaced, Didier Drogba, is enjoying an everything-he-touches-turns-to-gold introduction to Major League Soccer with Montreal Impact.

Pedro Rodriguez, who has scored just twice in a Chelsea shirt, was celebrating scoring the winning goal for Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup in August, and just two months prior, he won the treble with the Catalans.

The Manager

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Upon returning to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2013, Jose Mourinho labelled himself the "happy one," per BBC Sport. This was, of course, a reference to his self-assigned nickname, the Special One, which he introduced when he was first unveiled as Chelsea manager in 2004.

As it stands, Mourinho doesn't seem to be either.

Controversy has followed the Portuguese manager from Day 1. Whether it be the banning of his medical staff, bickering with Arsene Wenger, conspiracy theories or his reluctance to speak to the press, everyone around Chelsea seems to have grown tired of him, and reports suggest that if he fails to beat Liverpool on Saturday, he could be shown the door by owner Roman Abramovich.

All this just a matter of months after he was named the best manager in the Premier League.