CHELSEA’S 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa yesterday meant this has been their worst start to a league campaign since the 1978/79 season.
History doesn’t make for pretty reading for Chelsea fans as they were RELEGATED from England‘s top flight that season – with The Blues finishing rock bottom on 20 points.
AlamyMauricio Pochettino has overseen Chelsea’s worst start to a league season since the 1978-79 campaign[/caption]
GettyThat was a disastrous season for Chelsea, which ended in relegation[/caption]
Blues legend Ray Wilkins was Chelsea’s number eightRex Features
Going back to the modern day, Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa means that Chelsea have now failed to score in 13 Premier League games since 2023 began – a record for a calendar year.
They’ve also picked up just five Premier League wins during that period.
The Blues will take some solace in the fact that their start this season is slightly better than their worst ever 45 years ago.
This season they have one win, two draws and three losses whereas in 1978-79 – when legend Ray Wilkins was their captain – they had one win, a draw and four losses.
And it’s fair to say that the world was a very different place then compared to now.
For a start, Chelsea’s 20 total points that season are made to look worse due to only two points for a win being awarded in those days.
Three points for a win would come in three years later in 1981, in an attempt to tackle the scourge of teams settling for bore draws given the minor difference between one and two points.
Chelsea’s moneybags owner Todd Boehly was still in kindergarten in 1978 as he was only five years old.
And Chelsea’s manager, Mauricio Pochettino would have been just four and growing up in the rural town of Murphy in Argentina.
AlamyLionel Richie and The Commodores topped the charts with ‘Three Times a Lady’[/caption]
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Frank Lampard was just three months old[/caption]
Grease was number one at the Box Office
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Times Newspapers LtdPunks were still a common sight on the King’s Road[/caption]
Chelsea’s start to the 1978-79 season
Compared to this season’s campaign
Chelsea legend and former manager Frank Lampard was just three months old having been born in June 1978.
In politics, Labour’s Jim Callaghan was the Prime Minister with Margaret Thatcher the leader of the opposition.
Punk rock was in its final days following the break up of The Sex Pistols in January 1978, although punk rockers were still a regular sight on the King’s Road in Chelsea.
The average price of a pint in Britain would set you back just 40p and a 20 pack of cigarettes just 57p.
Cinemagoers were still flocking to see Grease at theatres, with the film topping the box office charts at the time.
And in music, Lionel Richie and the Commodores topped the charts with ‘Three Times a Lady’.
The popularisation of computer games began with Space Invaders being launched that year – which would eventually pave the way for the likes of EA FC 24 that we have today.
Times Newspapers LtdA pack of 20 cigarettes cost 57p[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdAnd the Sun’s front page looked like this – and cost just 7p[/caption]
And a very early form of a mobile phone system had just been introduced by Illinois Bell – which would eventually lead to the smartphones of today.
Back to the modern day, Pochettino said after Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa that his team need to “grow up”.
He said: “We need to grow up as a team, not only in an individual way.
“But the players, when they are young, need to learn with experience and when they make a mistake.
“It’s about learning. We are a young team that is in a process, they need to learn altogether.”