Premier League: Fatal flaw threatens Chelsea title push

Jose Mourinho's Chelsea may not be as invincible as they appear

Chelsea are huge favourites to win the Premier League, but they need to quickly suss out how to hold onto a lead...

The Premier League table makes delightful reading for Chelsea fans. They are four points clear at the top, six ahead of the closest "Big Seven" club and nine points or more beyond the rest of that gang, while the only points that they have dropped were away to Man City and Man United.

The Blues have darted in to 1.434/9 favouritism in the Premier League winner market from a pre-season high of 4.4, with Man City the sole side anywhere near them in the betting at 5.04/1. Arsenal and Man United by contrast are 24.023/1 and 30.029/1 outsiders.

However, while playing 14 times across all competitions without suffering a single defeat has lent them an air of invincibility that has seen them compared to Arsenal's unbeaten 2003/04 champions, the aura is undermined by a fault that keeps surfacing whenever they appear most comfortable.

There have already been five occasions in 2014/15 in which they have surrendered a lead, meaning that it has happened in 36% of their fixtures.

It has cost them points three times - away to Man City and Man United in the Premier League and at home to Schalke in the Champions League - while twice against lower-league opposition (Bolton and Shrewsbury), the gulf in class has been enough for them to find time to win the match all over again.

While they might have been happy with draws at the Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford at the start of those encounters, it was difficult to excuse their collapses. At Man City, they were up against ten men due to Pablo Zabaleta's dismissal, while Man United were struggling to create anything of note last Sunday prior to the free-kick at the finish.

A major reason why they came within four points of title winners Man City last term with a squad that nobody - least of all Jose Mourinho - fancied much was that they conceded just twice in seven trips to the other top-eight teams. They have leaked a worrying five in three when visiting the same gang already this season.

Similarly, Chelsea dropped only ten points from winning positions in 2013/14. If they continue at the current rate, they are on course to spill 17, which is bizarre given the impression that this side is far better tailored to Mourinho's demands than the one which he inherited.

QPR are the next club hoping to profit from a late Chelsea lapse, though the Blues are 1.192/11 to send their neighbours home from Stamford Bridge pointless.