5 Games from 2015/16 Season Chelsea Wish They Could Have Again
As the season enters the final stretch, the postmortem begins to kick in. For Chelsea, it's started a bit earlier than we're traditionally used to, with the Blues' campaign all but over in terms of competition, despite it barely being April.
There isn't anything else other than pride to play for now, given that the Blues will not be retaining their Premier League crown and are out of the cup competitions.
We can pinpoint where things went wrong, but what about those moments when things could have gone right? There were many times when Chelsea seemed to be hinting at turning the corner, only to pull the wool over our eyes.
Seasons are defined by those moments where a disallowed goal could have changed everything, or a victory at a certain moment changed the complexion of the table. Off the pitch, what if Jose Mourinho handled the pressure a bit better?
As Chelsea look back, what games do they wish they could revisit? Bleacher Report takes a look at five that shaped their season.
1. Chelsea 2-2 Swansea City
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Chelsea picked up a point on the opening day of the season against Swansea City, but drawing was the least of their problems.
It seems all of Chelsea's shortcomings spiraled from here. First there was the sending-off of Thibaut Courtois and the performance of Jefferson Montero that seemed to age Branislav Ivanovic a decade over just 90 minutes. Even now it doesn't seem that the Serbian has recovered sufficiently.
Then as the game closed out, Eden Hazard went down injured, and all hell broke loose. Physios Jon Fearn and Eva Carneiro were called onto the pitch to give Hazard treatment, which led to a very public argument on the sidelines between Jose Mourinho and his medical staff.
Subsequently, Fearn and Carneiro were removed from matchday duties. That led to Carneiro leaving Chelsea, and an employment tribunal between her, the club and Mourinho has since ensued.
Fearn was only recently reinstated back to his former role on the bench against West Ham United in March.
The fact this game is remembered for everything other than the football outlines just what a disastrous afternoon it was at Stamford Bridge. If only Chelsea could turn back the clock.
2. Chelsea 1-3 Liverpool
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Just as Chelsea seemed to be turning the corner with their performances, the Blues proved the masters of their own downfall.
Thanks to an early Ramires goal, Jose Mourinho's side were leading Liverpool as half-time approached. The Reds had enjoyed some chances themselves, but overall Chelsea seemed to be in control.
Then they swtiched off. With the referee playing four minutes of injury time, Philippe Coutinho pounced on the indecision in Chelsea's defence to score a wonderful strike with the last kick of the half.
From feeling empowered, Chelsea were deflated, and it showed in their second-half display. They were completely outplayed by Jurgen Klopp's side, and the game eventually finished at 3-1.
In truth, it could have been a lot more.
For all we had seen leading up to this game, the way Chelsea lost to Liverpool was a big sign of just how bad things were in the dressing room. The players were low on confidence, and the whole feeling around the club had shifted.
The scenes of Mourinho and his staff having a meeting on the pitch after the game added to the furore over another Premier League defeat.
3. Chelsea 2-1 Dynamo Kiev
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We've selected this game for more positive reasons than some of the others featuring in this list.
Coming on the back of that crushing 3-1 loss to Liverpool, Chelsea's Champions League future was on the line at Stamford Bridge. Sitting third in their group—knowing that Porto and Dynamo Kiev still had whipping boys Maccabi Tel-Aviv to play—nothing but a victory would do.
Chelsea had to take three points off Kiev; otherwise, they were facing Champions League oblivion with the very real threat of dropping into the Europa League. That wasn't acceptable for Jose Mourinho and his team of Premier League champions.
Had Chelsea not won here, there's every chance Mourinho would have lost his job sooner. With nothing in Europe to play for, Chelsea's season would have been all but over, given how dire their league position was.
By hook or by crook, they won, 2-1. Somehow Chelsea were able to grind out victory on a nervy night in west London, with Willian scoring a fantastic free-kick to settle things late on.
The sense of euphoria cleansed the palate for what had been a disastrous campaign up to that point. Victory showed there was still life in this Chelsea side, but the downside to that was that we wouldn't see it until Mourinho eventually departed a month later.
Given how disappointing 2015/16 has been, returning to moments like this is a reminder that there have been some positives.
4. Chelsea 3-3 Everton
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This game came in mid-January, when there was a real sense things could turn around for Chelsea. Guus Hiddink's arrival had changed the tone at Stamford Bridge, and as they remained undefeated in the six games ahead of it, a win would have propelled the Blues up the table.
They blew it, though, with a below-par performance, and only had an incorrect call from the linesman to thank for taking anything from the game when John Terry equalised deep into stoppage time.
It had been a similar story a few days earlier when Chelsea drew 2-2 with West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge. Twice they had led against Tony Pulis' side, but twice they were pegged back to share the points.
That week in January is what proved the Achilles' heel to Chelsea's league season. With games coming thick and fast at that time, taking six points on the bounce would have put them in the conversation for European football.
Indeed, add the four points dropped to Chelsea's tally now after 31 games, and the Blues would be in seventh place in the Premier League, just six points outside of the top four.
The accumulated points lost all season means we can point to any number of games to suggest Chelsea would have been better off had they won matches. This week in January, ending with the draw against Everton, was pivotal, however.
They were two must-win home matches, winnable games that could have added to the momentum Chelsea were building under Hiddink.
5. Chelsea 1-2 Paris Saint-Germain
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Guus Hiddink's team selection against Stoke City ahead of the visit of Paris Saint-Germain for the second leg of this Champions League clash outlined how important the tie was to Chelsea.
The boss rested some big names including Diego Costa that weekend as he gambled on seeing his team overcome the odds.
Chelsea's season rested on succeeding in the Champions League. With no chance of reaching the top four in the league, Chelsea's participation in the competition for 2016/17 would be decided by whether or not they could win it this term.
They came up short, however, with some key moments in both legs of the tie going against them. There was Diego Costa's header against the crossbar in the Parc des Princes, while a deflected Zlatan Ibrahimovic free-kick gave PSG the lead in that game.
At home, John Terry was missing through injury, which was a big blow to the defence. Despite scoring Chelsea's equaliser in the game, Costa also limped off in the second half, as did Eden Hazard.
When that happened, the game really was up for Chelsea. They were facing a ruthless PSG side without their match-winners, which eventually proved too much for them when Ibrahimovic scored his team's second on the night to kill Chelsea off.
The tie eventually finished 4-2 on aggregate, with Chelsea outclassed over the two legs. It was about par for what we expected, with this broken team facing a side that was simply too strong for them.
Despite all that, given those injuries and decisive moments, an what-if element lingers over Chelsea's Champions League campaign.
