Chelsea FC
FOUNDED: 1905
MANAGER: THOMAS TUCHEL
OWNER: ROMAN ABRAMOVICH
CHAIRPERSON: BRUCE BUCK
CAPTAIN: CESAR AZPILICUETA
NICKNAME: THE BLUES
STADIUM: STAMFORD BRIDGE
RIVALS: ARSENAL, FULHAM, MANCHESTER UNITED
Nicknamed “The Blues”, Chelsea has become one of the most consistent and strong clubs in English football since the takeover by Russian oligarch – Roman Abramovich. Chelsea was founded in 1905 and plays its home games at Stamford Bridge in Southwest London, very close to Fulham.
The London club has been one of the best teams in the 2000s winning 5 Premier League titles, 6 FA Cups and 1 Champions League.
They are the second-most successful team in England behind Manchester United, in the Premier League era.
HISTORY OF CHELSEA FC
The Stamford Bridge tunnel (Photo: Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Chelsea FC was not a big club
In 1904, Gus Mears acquired the Stamford Bridge athletics stadium with the aim of turning it into a football ground. Fulham refused to use the stadium as a football ground and that led to Mears starting his own football club.
Since Fulham already had a team, Chelsea was the name chosen as it was the nearest borough to Fulham. Chelsea won promotion to the First Division in their second season itself. They reached the 1915 FA Cup final but lost to Sheffield United at Old Trafford, Manchester.
The London club finished 3rd in the First Division in 1920, which was the team’s best finish to that point. Chelsea has always had a reputation of signing star players and attracting large crowds. Even back in the day in the early 1900s.
Ted Drake’s one-time success and Docherty’s near misses
They were FA Cup semifinalists in 1920 and 1932 and remained in the First Division through the 1930s. Chelsea finally achieved success after newly appointed manager, Ted Drake, brought about major changes to the club. Drake revamped the youth set-up and training regime and signed some quality players from the lower leagues and amateur leagues.
This transition saw Chelsea winning its first league title in 1954-55 but failed to win anything after under Ted Drake. This led to him getting the sack in 1961 as Tommy Docherty took over.
Docherty built a team by utilising Chelsea’s youth academy as the Blues came close to winning trophies in the 1960s. They were on course for a domestic treble of the League, FA Cup and League Cup but only managed to win the League Cup in the end.
Chelsea scaled the mountain but then hit rock-bottom
Dave Sexton took over the job from Docherty and Chelsea won the FA Cup in 1970. In 1971, the Londoners won their first European trophy as they defeated Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in Athens, Greece.
Towards the end of the 1970s and the early 1980s, the club began struggling due to debts and was forced to sell their star players as a result, which led to relegation from the First Division. The team was almost relegated to the third division in the 1982-83 season but in 1983-84, the then Chelsea manager John Neal put together a team with the minimum finances he had and managed to get promoted to the First Division as 2nd Division champions.
Chelsea was relegated from the 1st Division at the end of 1987/88 sadly but managed to come back to the top division after winning the 2nd Division title the following year.
The Premier League era
(getsurrey.co.uk)
The Premier League era brought in lady luck for Chelsea. Something that seemed to just not be on their side since 1905.
Chelsea was never a big hitter in the newly formed Premier League, but all that changed in 1996 when Ruud Gullit was appointed as player-manager. Under Gullit, Chelsea won the 1997 FA Cup but the Dutchman was replaced by Gianluca Vialli soon after. In the 1998 season under the guidance of Vialli, Chelsea went on to win the League Cup, UEFA Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. They also won the FA Cup in 2000.
Chelsea’s path towards greatness became clear when the club was bought by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich after the 2002-03 season. It was Abramovich who brought Jose Mourinho to the club and under Mourinho, Chelsea went on to become one of the strongest clubs in England registering back-to-back league titles in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons along with two League Cups and an FA Cup.
Jose Mourinho left the club at the end of the 2007 season to manage Inter Milan. Chelsea hired Avram Grant as their manager to lead the club to their first UEFA Champions League final in 2008 but the Blues failed to beat Manchester United in the penalty shootout that saw the Red Devils win their 3rd Champions League crown.
Avram Grant was sacked after the Champions League final and Guus Hiddink was given the managerial job as caretaker and he led Chelsea to the FA Cup in 2009. In the 2009-10 season, Carlo Ancelotti succeeded the Dutch manager and the Blues won their first domestic double as they lifted the Premier League and FA Cup titles.
Post Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea hired Roberto Di Matteo to lead Chelsea in 2012 and he did not disappoint. Chelsea won their 7th FA Cup title and their first-ever Champions League trophy as they beat Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout, becoming the first L0ndon club to lift Europe’s most coveted prize.
In the following year, Chelsea failed to make it past the group stages of the Champions League and had to fight it out in the Europa League but they ended up winning the competition, making them the first club to have held two major European titles, simultaneously. They are just 1 of the 5 clubs to have won 3 major European trophies alongside Ajax, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Manchester United.
Jose Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge in 2013. The Blues won the Premier League and League Cup in 2015-16. Mourinho was sacked four months into the new season as things did not go well at all for the “Special One”. In 2017, Antonio Conte was appointed as Chelsea boss and he had immediate success as they won the league title. In 2018, Conte also led the Blues to the FA Cup but a 5th place league finish meant curtains for the Italian.
Maurizio Sarri replaced Conte. Sarri won the Europa League and made the final of the League Cup but that was not good enough by Roman Abramovich’s standards.
Frank Lampard and his short 18-month stint as Chelsea manager
Jose Mourinho with Frank Lampard, John Terry and Gudjohnson after winning the 2004/05 league title (Dailymail)
Chelsea appointed Frank Lampard as club manager after sacking Maurizio Sarri and the Chelsea legend managed to secure a UEFA Champions League spot for his club in his first season as manager, finishing 4th in the Premier League.
Chelsea spent over $330 million in the 2020 transfer window to bolster the side in hopes of challenging the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, bringing in Edouard Mendy, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Thiago Silva and Kai Havertz. They had also acquired Christian Pulisic in the previous season so the Blues have a lot of marquee names now.
Frank Lampard was sacked and replaced by Thomas Tuchel in January 2021.
Club Records
MOST APPEARANCES: Ron Harris (795)
TOP GOALSCORER: Frank Lampard (210)
FIRST DIVISION LEAGUE & PREMIER LEAGUE TITLES: 6
FA CUP TITLES: 8
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLES: 1
LEAGUE CUP TITLES: 5
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE TITLES: 2
CHARITY/COMMUNITY SHIELDS: 4
HOW TO BET ON CHELSEA
Chelsea are one of the modern-day giants of English Football. They do not have a great “history” to speak off but over the last decade or so they’ve earned the right to known as one of the heavyweights of Premier League and European Football.
It is safe to say that Chelsea FC owes a lot to their Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, who bought the club in the summer of 2003. Even with the money, it was only after the arrival of Jose Mourinho as a manager in 2004 that the club transformed itself from a Europa League club to a Champions League club.
Chelsea has won the English title a total of 6 times, the FA Cup 8 times, the League Cup 5 times and the Champions League once. Chelsea is one of the 7 English clubs to have never been relegated in the Premier League era.
Here, we will be focusing on the stats and facts on Chelsea FC and give you tips and pointers on possible long-term bets like futures bets that you may want to consider placing on the London Blues.
BETTING ON CHELSEA FC
We will be doing a thorough analysis that should help you in placing your money on Chelsea FC.
Chelsea was fearsome under Jose Mourinho in his first term with the club. The Blues NEVER lost a Premier League game at Stamford Bridge under the Special One, in his first term!
The Bridge was considered a fortress so it was never wise to bet against Chelsea at home. Things have changed since Frank Lampard took charge though.
Lay on Chelsea against the Top 12 teams
The Blues seem to struggle against the teams in the top half of the table whether home or away and these are worrying signs for the London side but this is good for bettors as Chelsea will be favourites for most games barring against Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool so you stand a chance to earn some good returns.
Chelsea to score 1.5 Goals or more against bottom-half teams
Chelsea has been dependent on the points they get against the sides lower in the table. They are too talented a squad to lose to some of the smaller teams in the league so expect them to score 2 goals per game against the smaller sides, more often than not.
Bet on under 1.5 goals when Chelsea plays at home
Chelsea had major defensive woes in 2019-20 mainly stemming from their problems with Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal. These problems seem to have been resolved with the acquisition of Senegal’s Edouard Mendy.
Mendy has looked assured in Chelsea’s goal and has contributed to clean sheets being maintained by the Blues. Kurt Zouma has turned over a new leaf and has become a constant at the centreback position for Chelsea. Thiago Silva’s calm demeanour and invaluable experience have made them tough to get past.
With Captain Cesar Azpilicueta (or Reece James at times) and Chelsea’s best buy, Ben Chilwell at the fullback positions, Chelsea’s back-line looks set.
It would not be a bad option to bet on Chelsea conceding 1 goal or none, especially at home.