Everton 3 Chelsea 1

Not often has one wished to have been put out of one's misery at a football match when only a goal behind and with still a quarter of the game to go. This Chelsea side is in free fall and has more correlation with the Shanghai stock market than rational footballing thought.

We began well and my initial fears subsided. That was until Everton scored with their first chance of the game. Chelsea's confidence and concentration immediately dropped. As against Manchester City, we could have conceded another three goals during the next ten minutes and were lucky to only be two-down before Matic's stunner. Gaps opened up all over the pitch. Players were caught out of position. We tried to walk the ball into the net. No pace. No power. No ambition.

Goodison Park means a lot to me. It was the first away ground I had visited as a child outside of London back in 1989 when Steve Clarke sent us top of the league for the first time in my lifetime before in typical Chelsea style, we went on a 6 league game winless streak. This included a string of defeats where we conceded 14 goals in 3 games and even lost 5-2 at home to Wimbledon. Chelsea finished 5th that season and even this seems an unlikely ambition this year.

The positive psychology that Mourinho normally instils is one that fans cherish: even when playing badly, we could somehow grind out a result. Even when the refereeing gods would ignore obvious decisions that would benefit our side, this would motivate the players to fight and win. Chelsea fans cannot see this fight this season. The blind confidence I have in our manager has waned to the lowest ebb ever. Players who have been so reliable in the past and carried the team are all underperforming. Ivanovic, Azpi, Fabs, Diego, Hazard are the main offenders. Costa continues to look a shadow of the player he was since he was injured last season. At least Pedro shows promise.

The drop in form is hard to explain. Are players not being challenged? Is there something going on behind the scenes that we do not know about? Is the fact that "Manchester" has spent so much on quality players compared to us make some wonder if they are at a club that lacks ambition? The timing of this set of results is ironically poor: we announce plans to build a new stadium and our manager has just signed a new contract.

There is a bittersweet upside though. The real fans have been through this before and can laugh it off. The JCLs can go back to supporting a team in red. Kids will find it more difficult as we have been trophy-laden since 1997. Games are less predictable as the erratic nature of our play also means I have no idea whether we will score or concede three. Just like 1989 then. Millwall fans jumped on the same train as us as we stopped at Crewe. Windows intact and with decent banter I arrived back at Euston exhausted but having perversely enjoyed the day out after a long week in the office. Please beat Arsenal. Please, Chelsea.