The Chelsea Curse

Chelsea have been the early season pace-setters, beating Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United on their way to the summit. Up until a week ago many pundits thought the Premiership title was on its way to West London. But things change very quickly in football. Having seen their first shot at silverware fade at Blackburn in mid-week and their third Premiership loss of the season come at Manchester City, Chelsea’s recent defeats add to the theory that Carlo Ancelotti’s side face a far greater adversary than anything Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson could throw onto the pitch: the dreaded kit curse.

Glancing over Chelsea’s 24 fixtures to date, the Blues have used three separate uniforms: their blue home kit; a dark navy/neon yellow away strip; and the white third kit. The simple fact is that all four of Chelsea’s losses in all competitions have occurred when sporting the dark navy/neon yellow away number. To add to their woes, in the matches where they have worn the cursed away kit, Chelsea have also sustained injuries to Ashley Cole, Salomon Kalou and John Terry.

Unlucky kits are not uncommon in modern day football. Remember Manchester United’s infamous grey kit from 1996? The Red Devils lost 4 and drew 1 of their 5 matches in the grey away kit including a classic encounter against Southampton on April 3rd, 1996 where United trailed 3-0 at half-time, switched to a third blue-and-white shirt and eventually lost the match 6-3. The grey kit was retired two days later and United went on to win every remaining fixture to steal the title.

Played 24 (19 Wins, 1 Draw, 4 Losses):

Blue Home Kit – Played 18, W17, D1.

Dark Navy/Neon Yellow Away Kit – Played 4, L4.

White Third Kit – Played 2, W2.

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W: Chelsea 2-2 Mancheseter United (4-1 pens) (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 2-1 Hull (Blue Home Kit)

W: Sunderland 1-3 Chelsea (Blue Home Kit)

W: Fulham 0-2 Chelsea (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 3-0 Burnley (Blue Home Kit)

W: Stoke 1-2 Chelsea (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 1-0 Porto (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 1-0 QPR (Blue Home Kit)

L: Wigan 3-1 Chelsea (Dark Navy/Neon Yellow Away Kit – Cole Injured)

W: APOEL Nicosia 0-1 Chelsea (White Third Kit)

W: Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool (Blue Home Kit)

L: Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea (Dark Navy/Neon Yellow Away Kit)

W: Chelsea 4-0 Atletico Madrid (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 5-0 Blackburn (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 4-0 Bolton (Blue Home Kit)

W: Bolton 0-4 Chelsea (Blue Home Kit)

D: Atletico Madrid 2-2 Chelsea (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (Blue Home Kit)

W: Chelsea 4-0 Wolves (Blue Home Kit)

W: Porto 0-1 Chelsea (White Third Kit)

W: Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea (Blue Home Kit)

L: Blackburn 3-3 Chelsea (4-3 pens) (Dark Navy/Neon Yellow Kit Away – Kalou Injured)

L: Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea (Dark Navy/Neon Yellow Kit Away – Terry injured)