Chelsea Struggling to Score

Chelsea struggled for the second Premiere League match under Avram Grant and draw 0-0 with Fulham. This is a disgraceful result for the once almighty Blues.

Drogba came back from his injury and put in some credible performance but it seems the team is playing with ten man instead of 11. Shevchenko once again had an off-day. The ineptitude which Shevchenko presents himself in front of goal really makes me wonder how he was such a lethal striker in Serie A while donning the shirts of AC Milan.

It is not that Shev was missing in action. On the contrary, he was everywhere but ended up being a liability. He has no business taking free-kicks but he went ahead and fluffed the chances. He dropped deep to help the midfield and challenged for the high balls - in fact he collided with Drogba in the 11th minute doing just that. He had five shots on goal but none threatened Fulham goalkeeper Kasey Keller. An embarrassing miss from close range just after the break was the last straw.

Avram Grant did the sensible thing and replaced Shev in the 54th minute with Claudio Pizzaro. The Blues gained a new urgency in attack but Fulham defence held firm. When Drogba was eventually dismissed after his second yellow card, the writing was on the wall for a goalless match.

The statistics do not look good for Chelsea if they are considering to wrest the title away from Manchester United. They have now gone more than three matches without scoring and the situation doesn't seem to be improving.

Avram Grant, despite his close relationship with Abramovich, may soon realize that PR is not enough to survive in this high-pressure job. Forget about playing in an entertaining manner. Get the house in order first and eke out the results using Mourinho's style.