Chelsea season so far: Jose Mourinho and under-performing Blues must improve or face the chop

ANALYSIS: After the international break we've taken a look at Chelsea's season so far...

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How is it going?

Where to start. The Premier League champions have made one of the worst starts to a title defence in the Premier League era and have just eight points from eight matches so far, with manager Jose Mourinho the favourite to be sacked next despite lifting the title less than six months ago. Chelsea appeared to turn their season around with a 2-0 win against Arsenal but have since followed that up with a draw at winless Newcastle and a demoralising defeat at home to Southampton.

Who's on the horizon?

Luckily for Mourinho and the Blues they next face Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa, a team who have not won since the opening day of the season, they then travel to Dynamo Kiev before facing rivals West Ham at Upton Park. Then Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge.

Who's playing well?

Are there any? Asmir Begovic has done a decent job covering for Thibaut Courtois in goal but there aren't any Chelsea players who can really look at themselves and be impressed with what they've done this season. Willian has been the best of a very, very bad bunch, the Brazilian finally adding some end product to his high energy and work rate.

Who's playing badly?

Everyone. Eden Hazard was last season's Player of the Year but he has looked tired and uninterested, providing just two assists so far. Gary Cahill and John Terry are part of an awful defence that has conceded more than any team apart from Sunderland. Diego Costa has forgotten how to score (but not how to argue). Cesc Fabgregas and Nemanja Matic are no longer the midfield that dominated all that stood in their way last season, instead looking tired and slow.

Branislav Ivanovic has transformed from the best to the worst right-back in the league in eight excrutiating matches.

But the biggest disappointment for Chelsea so far has been the performance of Mourinho. The revered manager has been surly all season. From his over-reaction to the Eva Carneiro saga to his unnecessary dropping of John Terry at Manchester City, Mourinho has put on a negative front that has clearly affected the performance of his players.

When he returned to Chelsea he was no longer the 'Special One' but the 'Happy One'. 18 months later he is anything but.

Reigning player of the year Eden Hazard looks tired and has been ineffective

How have the summer signings settled in?

Pedro has huffed and puffed but without the talents of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Co next to him, the £23m winger looks a little bit lost and lacking in threat. Begovic, as stated above, is doing well.

The only other two players to so far bother the first team have been Baba Rahman and Kenedy in appearances that are limited in both minutes and impact.

The others - Papy Djilobodji and Michael Hector - were strange moves from the start.

Anyone injured?

Courtois is still out and will remain so until around the beginning of December. Ivanovic was injured while on international duty at the weekend and will miss three weeks (unfortunately, a number of fans will breath a sigh of relief that he's out of the team).

Cesar Azpilicueta will likely slide over to right-back and Baba Rahman will get a chance to really show if he was worth £14m.

Branislav Ivanovic was injured while on Serbia duty

What needs to happen?

Where to start, this will take a while. Mourinho needs to stop sulking and infuse the players with some confidence and a will to win. He should also attempt to rotate his squad more to avoid the kind of tired minds and legs that have been on show since January.

His team needs to play with more attacking freedom and create more chances than they have been, while tightening up at the back.

The players have to push themselves to perform at a much higher level than they have been doing this season, where they have been relying on their natural talent rather than work rate or mental determination to win matches.

That's a lot of problems to fix. But Chelsea were champions last year so clearly have the talent to work their way back up the table, even if a 10-point gap to City seems daunting at the moment.

Champions League qualification and a trophy is the minimum expectation heading into every season.