Chelsea

According to Sky Sports, West Ham United have resumed talks with Chelsea to sign Emerson Palmieri. After a collapse in discussions recently, the Hammers are seemingly back in the chase, as David Moyes remains keen on a new left-back. Moyes is feeling the pressure of time running out in the transfer window as the West Ham United boss is yet to finalise his squad for the long season ahead. A new left-back is imperative, as it would allow the manager to shuffle his backline whenever necessary.

This Premier League season promises to be one of the most fiercely contested in recent years. There are six teams with genuine designs on lifting the trophy come the end of the season, and each of these clubs has one of the world's leading managers at the helm. Unlike last season, where Chelsea's dominance was relatively unquestioned, this campaign could well have many twists and turns at the top of the table.

It is an indictment of the quality in the league that champions Chelsea are only widely perceived to be third favourites to take the title, especially considering the imperious form they displayed in Antonio Conte's debut season. That being said, the Blues have had a stuttering start to the season, falling to Burnley at home before recovering with a 2-1 victory at Spurs.

Frank Lampard is regarded by the fans as one of the greatest ever Chelsea players and, although injury has interrupted his season, he is now showing New York City supporters why he has been so successful in the game.

But whereas Lampard is hoping to finish off his career with more trophies in MLS there have been some who put Chelsea’s form last season down to the club being unable to replace their talismanic midfielder. So have Chelsea found someone who can take over Lampard’s mantle at Stamford Bridge?

Chelsea boss José Mourinho has claimed that youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been improving a lot in the last few months and is expected to get more first-team opportunities compared to last season.

Despite dropping two points in the hard-fought 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge against Southampton, Manchester City’s shock defeat at Burnley put Chelsea six points clear at the Premier League summit.

Jose Mourinho’s side also have a game in hand over their closest rivals, and with just nine games remaining in the 2014/2015 Premier League season, the title is Chelsea’s to lose. However, the Blues cannot afford to become complacent with the finishing line within touching distance, particularly with fixtures against Manchester United and Arsenal coming up in late April.

Chelsea dropped 2 points after having to settle with a 1-1 draw when playing a Premier League match against the relegation zone club Burnley. It was a surprising result as the match was played in the home turf of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge which is where the team of Jose Mourinho has managed to win most of their matches in the Premier League in this season.

This result has allowed Manchester City to close the gap between them to 5 points, which used to be a lot higher not too long ago.

Chelsea would start 2015 by taking Tottenham Hotspur on.

These two teams had played against each other just a couple of weeks ago and in spite of the fact that Chelsea’s most important player Diego Costa was not available for them, they just ran through the Spurs’ defence and surged their way to a 3-0 win.

Costa’s ready to roar on Thursday though and that’s not a good news for Tottenham. The Spanish striker has found some rhythm going into the New Year.

Even before the start of the Premier League 2014-15, everyone knew that Chelsea would be the team to beat.

They were the favourites for the title, but, they were not expected to have it easy. But, what has been seen till this point of time, it seems no team would be able to get even close to them as far as the no. of points is concerned.

Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta says that the club will certainly benefit from the signing of Diego Costa, which is expected to be officially announced in the next few weeks. Chelsea have been working very hard to bring in the Atletico Madrid striker. They are believed to have agreed a £ 32 million deal, which matches the release clause figure in his contract. Apart from this, there are also thought to have agreed a £ 150,000 per week contract as well. They have been very keen to sign the player before the World Cup 2014.

Chelsea manager José Mourinho is set to endure a second season without any trophy on a personal level after his Chelsea team were knockout of the league title race following a 0-0 draw with Norwich city. Mourinho failed to lift any major title with Real Madrid last season. Only a few weeks ago, Chelsea were in contention for both the Premier league and Champions League. However, their season has come to an end in the space of a few days after being knocked out by Atletico Madrid in the semifinals of the Champions League.