Chelsea decide not to defend as their title bid falters

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. Chelsea conceded as many goals in yesterday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester United as they had in their first ten away league matches of the season combined.

2. Whereas Avram Grant lost just three of his 32 league matches as Chelsea manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari has already been beaten three times just 21 matches into his tenure. The Blues have two points less than they did at this point last season.

3. This weekend’s 1-0 loss at the Emirates marked the eleventh blank that Bolton have fired this season. They have failed to score on four more occasions than Middlesbrough have, despite the fact the Trotters have scored four more goals than the Teessiders this season.

4. West Ham are the only team in the Premier League who have avoided defeat in each of their last six Premier League away games, despite coming up against the top two Liverpool and Chelsea since their last defeat on the road back in October.

5. The East London club’s much-maligned striker Carlton Cole has already scored more goals this season (eight) than their supposed one-man team Carlos Tevez managed throughout the 2006-07 campaign that has been thrust back into the spotlight over the last week.

Posted: January 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn |