Chelsea are steadily sliding away from the top and are casting doubts over their ability to finish in a top four place.
Chelsea are not out of the top-four race yet, but the drift in results has changed the tone from “maybe” title challengers to a side now having to protect fourth place week by week. The Blues are currently fourth after 17 games on 29 points, level with fifth-placed Liverpool, so the margin for error is already thin.
Chelsea’s season has started to feel like two stories fighting for control. On one hand, there have been stretches where the football has looked quick, brave and modern, the kind that invites big talk about a proper return to the top table.
On the other, the league table is beginning to tell a quieter truth: Chelsea sit fourth after 17 matches with 29 points and a +12 goal difference, but Liverpool are right beside them on the same points total.
That is the part that should sharpen focus inside Cobham, because it suggests Chelsea have not built enough separation from a pack that’s more than happy to drag them into a scrap. When a season starts with big aims, the unsettling bit is not one bad performance, it is how quickly “title conversation” becomes “hold your ground.”
From targets to tension
Chelsea’s objectives are slipping not because the ceiling has disappeared, but because the floor keeps dropping out at awkward moments.
The West London outfit may still be in the UEFA Champions League places (fourth), yet being level on points with the team directly below (Liverpool in fifth) means one rough weekend can flip the narrative instantly. Even the gap to the chasing group is not huge, as sixth-placed Sunderland sit on 27 points. So, the race is packed tightly behind them
What is driving the slide
This is where the Enzo Maresca question hangs in the air: is the outside noise around him (and the constant tactical debate that follows) tightening shoulders, or are the tweaks themselves leaving players stuck between two instincts, control and aggression?
The pattern that frustrates supporters is not simply losing points; it is the sense that Chelsea can look sharp for 45 minutes and shaky for the other 45, as if matches are being played in chapters rather than as a whole. The table does not punish aesthetics, it punishes lapses, and right now Chelsea cannot afford many.
Newcastle United: a warning sign
The trip to St. James’ Park was a snapshot of the wider issue: Chelsea went 2-0 down with Nick Woltemade scoring in the 4th and 20th minutes, leaving them with a mountain to climb. They did respond, as Reece James pulled one back in the 49th minute and Joao Pedro equalised in the 66th.
However, needing a rescue act after such a poor start is exactly the kind of habit that drags a season into trouble. ESPN’s recap framed it as Chelsea “snatching a 2-2” after being 2-0 down inside 20 minutes, with the second-half fightback driven by attacking pace and directness.
Can they still finish top four?
Yes, because Chelsea are already fourth, and their points total keeps them in control of their own destiny for now. But “control” is fragile when fifth place is on the same points, and when the rest are close enough to turn one slump into a slide down the table.
The run-in will be less about whether Chelsea can produce big performances, and more about whether they can stop gifting opponents the kind of head starts that turned Newcastle United away into a recovery mission.
The Blues have improved in at least one clear, measurable way: they are in the top four after 17 games, with a positive goal difference that suggests there is a real base of quality to work from.
The bigger question is whether that improvement becomes a successful season, because success here won’t be defined by flashes, it will be defined by how often Chelsea look like a complete team from minute one to minute ninety. If they can turn second-half surges into full-match authority, top four is achievable; if not, the season will keep pulling them away from the targets it began with.
