Ivanovic: Chelsea replicating title-winning form

Ivanovic, however, has dispelled any notion of the players no longer wanting to perform for Mourinho.

Chelsea fans are getting ready for the latest round of their nightmare Premier League season. It is technically a relegation six-pointer with Norwich just one place above Chelsea, but no one would have imagined such a scenario for either team, well at least not for Chelsea. I have no doubts Jose will get Chelsea out of this situation as he did so many times before. The club are in dire need of bringing new faces into the first-team squad as a few of the key players are struggling to emulate their sublime form from last term which had won them the Premier League title.

Austrian forward Marko Arnautović scored the victor for the Potters at the 53rd minute to give Mourinho’s gang their seventh defeat in 12 games this season, via BBC Sport. “More importantly he wants to make sure that we don’t lose what we have achieved in the last 10 years, which has earned the respect of the football fraternity”.

The Stoke City manager has been in support of Mourinho all the way and had this to say about the Chelsea boss, “I don’t think anyone thinks that he won’t.( recover from the current situation)”.

Like Costa, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas have also lost their way and that may be the primary reason why Chelsea’s leading marksman in their title-winning push has gone off the boil.

Matt Jarvis (knee) is sidelined for Norwich but Nathan Redmond could be fit enough to play a part after recovering from a thigh problem.

Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 11 matches in all competitions against Norwich City (W8 D3), last losing to the Canaries 3-0 away in the league in December 1994.

Yet I liked the way Costa went about his work in his first campaign as a Premier League player and it does surprise me that he is struggling so badly.

“Jose Mourinho has announced a clearing-out operation that sees players like Diego Costa, Falcao and Pedro [leaving the club]”, writes Juajo Martin on Spanish portal Don Balon. Additionally, even though they have kept a couple of clean sheets, they have yet to dominate a game and earn a decisive victory, and they look not much closer to accomplishing that than they did when the season began.

Worldwide stars are flocking to the Premier League.

– The Blues have dropped the joint-most points from leading positions in the top flight this season (eight along with Aston Villa).