It is a season that Chelsea will want to forget in a hurry as they saw their defence of the Premier League title fail to lift off from the beginning, whilst a number of problems continue to swirl around Stamford Bridge heading into next year’s campaign.
Antonio Conte’s future in west London has been talked about for a number of months already, however, there does not appear to be any movement on his current position but it still remains hugely unlikely that he will still be there on the opening day of the season.
We take a look at how Chelsea’s 2017/18 season went, with a look at the best and worst moments of the footballing year and what next season could hold for the Blue part of London.
Best moments of the year
In a year that did not provide much joy for the Chelsea faithful, it was indeed capped off with a trophy win at Wembley Stadium. Conte’s side defeated former boss Jose Mourinho and Manchester United last month to put some closure to their miserable season for the FA Cup.
The Blues, who failed to pick up a number of results, started to turn things around when they beat Southampton in April. The Londoners travelled to the south coast, however, they found themselves 2-0 down with 30 minutes to go.
However, a quick-fire 10 minutes which saw Olivier Giroud – who could be considered the Blues signing of the season – and Eden Hazard saw Chelsea take all three points and gave them an outside chance of making the Champions League.
Worst moments of the season
The failure to qualify for the European competition must be thought off as the biggest failure of the campaign, despite not even challenging Manchester City to retain their Premier League title. The Blues finished the season in fifth, with many questioning the manager with a lot of his decisions and the way the club performed during the majority of the year.
The uncertainty of Conte’s future has been a problem for many, with the doubts looking to cause issues across the whole of the club. The Italian, whose future is still up in the air, has been critical of a number of things during his time at Stamford Bridge and the board have not been happy with his public displays.
The signings of Alvaro Morata and Tiemoue Bakayoko also failed to live up to expectations, with both not being able to make a real impact. The Spaniard, who arrived for a record fee from Real Madrid, started life as a Blue well, having a hand in the first ten games of the season, however, he stagnated after an injury problem. The Frenchman started life poorly at Stamford Bridge, however, he started to come into his own towards the end of the campaign and will look to start next year in the same form.
Prospects for next season
So what does next season hold for Chelsea? Well, a new manager is looking likely, with the club holding a number of talks with a number of different men, whilst some of their players will be looking to kick on from a disappointing year.
Morata and Bakayoko will look to prove that they have what it takes to be a Blue, whilst there could be some high-profile departures, with the likes of the Spaniard, Hazard, Willian and Thiabut Courtois all rumoured with possible exits.
Chelsea will also look to bring in a number of new additions to help get them back within the Champions League and challenge for the Premier League title, however, they could also start to use the youth in their Europa League campaign as they look to build for the future.