Chelsea could not have got off to a much worse start to their title defence this season as any hope of a repeat success in the Premier League was quickly washed away.

At Christmas, the Blues found themselves closer to the bottom of the table than the top four. This led to the exit of club legend Jose Mourinho, who was eventually sacked by owner Roman Abramovich, despite large sections of Chelsea’s fan base being against the decision.

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman branded his new signing, Charlie Austin, as amazing after the striker scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win over Manchester United.

The striker had just completed a move from QPR for around £ 4 million. He was valued much more only 12 months ago, but his contractual situation meant that Southampton were able to get him for much less than his value of around £ 15 million. Austin was a major reason in QPR believing that they could avoid relegation. His goals earned him a spot in the England national team for a brief period.

Louis van Gaal has not managed to lift a single piece of silverware for Manchester United since his appointment as the head coach back in May of 2014.

In all fairness, the Dutchman had a difficult job to do when he was selected to succeed David Moyes and so far the team does get far better results than they used to with their former coach.

Even with all the progression that has been seen in the team, something which is non-existent is the trophies. The Dutchman still has not secured a piece of silverware despite having spent a substantially large amount of money in signing players and improving his squad.

To make matters worse, Manchester United was knocked out of the Champions League in a fairly disappointing way as they lost against Wolfsburg but now have the possibility of competing in the Europa League and start winning some titles.

Manchester United have elicited mixed feelings from their support this season. They have been fairly solid with results but have been lacking the attractive, attacking football that the fans are used to.

Their defensive record has been fairly commendable, but without a serious threat in attack can they really hope to challenge for the title?

After the summer transfer window, a lot of United fans were left dumbfounded about what had happened. The club shipped out two recognised world-class strikers and brought in a young, unfinished product for a ridiculous amount of cash.

Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa says that Chelsea manager José Mourinho should not be sacked since he can guarantee success.

The Portuguese is on the verge of being sacked from his role as the Chelsea manager owing to poor results, which has left the club 15th in the table with only three league wins throughout the campaign. After the recent 3-1 defeat against Liverpool, morale cannot be any lower amongst the players and the supporters. The fans have been supportive of the manager with banners in this recent home game, but Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is sure to be concerned about the club’s future.

Chelsea’s miserable start to the 2015/16 season went from bad to worse at the weekend as they fell to Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.

It leaves them with an even bigger mountain to climb if they are to finish in the top four at the end of the campaign.

The Blues are at the time of writing available at 10/3 in the football betting for a top-four finish as they are currently 13 points adrift of the Champions League places.