Chelsea next five fixtures compared to Newcastle, Man Utd and Tottenham as top four battle starts

Arsenal, Liverpool, Brighton and Manchester City have all tried, only Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa succeeded. Chelsea's backwards season continues.

The Blues have now lost to as many bottom half sides as they have top half and sit firmly in the middle of the league.Their best results and performances have been scintilating, posing as Premier League all-timers, but the worst has been boo-worthy and ultimately befuddling.

What sort of side can put four past Pep Guardiola and Manchester City but go goalless against Forest, Bournemouth and Brentford? Well, this young Chelsea experiment is what. At times it feels that there is little that can actually be done to stop this or that can be learned from it. Teams with average ages of 23 and below are destined for inconsistency.

Break through the team with the most balance and poise that England has perhaps ever seen but then concede from a corner, a penalty, a deflection and a counter-attack that came from possession inside the attacking third. This is what developing looks like in front of your eyes.

It is wild, though, that after 12 games Chelsea are the only team to win 11 matches on xG and the only team to stop them was Thomas Frank's Bees. That is the confusion that hangs at Stamford Bridge but with it is excitement. 'Hold on, we've seen this script before,' many feel when a low-block rocks up and frustrates, but we haven't had the tit-for-tat aggression, punch and counter-punch on show this week.

It is bravery, at times naivety and entirely new for this Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Luckily this is still just the middle of a long run of testing games to come. Here's the next five that the Blues will face.

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