How many trophies can Chelsea realistically win this season?

Chelsea can win four trophies this Season. But will it happen?

During the 2008/09 Season, Manchester Utd won four trophies:

• FA Community Shield
• League Cup
• Premier League
• FIFA Club World Cup

If we rightly ignore the Community Shield as a fancy friendly, then we see that an English club has never won four trophies in one season. The closest we have come in England was:

• Manchester Utd  1999: Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup
• Liverpool  1984: European Cup, Division One and League Cup

The question then follows – is this current Chelsea team good enough and lucky enough to better those illustrious predecessors? The most optimistic odds right now are 50-1. Since the betting firms are usually right about these things; and given that no English club has ever won four proper trophies, we have to assume that Chelsea will not win everything this Season.

Thus far in the Roman Era, we have won 11 trophies in 11 years. This suggests that we are likely to win something every year. During the same period we have won two trophies in one season on four occasions, most notably the 2009/10 double. Therefore, it is perfectly realistic for us to win two trophies. Even winning three trophies is a possibility since that precedent has been already been set by other English clubs.

So where will we lose and where will we win?

The Champions League

I think a look at Mourinho’s record in this competition is instructive:

In his ten full campaigns in the Champions League, Mourinho has reached eight Semi-Finals including two wins – one of five managers to win the Champions League (or past incarnation) with two clubs.

I talk about Semi-Finals because I believe that once you reach that stage, the possibility of winning the whole thing becomes real. We of all people, know all too well that anything can happen, both positive and negative.

If we reach another Semi-Final, it would be twice in a row for Chelsea and five in a row for Mourinho. Coincidentally, it would also be Chelsea’s fifth Champions League Semi-Final. Something has to give.

I believe that we have an excellent chance of winning the Champions League. The final is in Berlin, and Germany does hold fond memories for us. And over two-legs, I don’t think there’s a better manager out there than Mourinho. He consistently reaches the latter stages of the competition and that’s where a club ordinarily needs to be before eventual victory. After all, one of the Semi-Finalists will win the Big Ears…

The Premier League

For me, this is the most important one to win. The Champions League would obviously be glorious, drawing us equal with Nottingham Forest’s two European Cups. However, it has been four years since we last won the League. Surely, this is the priority despite the sensible ‘one-game-at-a-time’ attitude.

Luckily for us, the portents for Premier League victory are good. How about we look at Mourinho’s league record at Christmas?

Every time Jose has been top of the Christmas tree he has gone on to win the League. It’s a remarkable record, and who’s to say he won’t manage it again? Furthermore, it’s also a happy coincidence that every time Chelsea has been top at Christmas, Chelsea has won the League. Consequently, I must conclude that if we don’t win the League, it would be a statistical freak. Blame me if we don’t…

The FA Cup

We’ve had a wonderful relationship with the FA Cup in recent years. During the Roman Era, we have won it four times:

2007, 2009, 2010, 2012.

It’s definitely about time we added to these, augmenting our current 7 FA Cups. Manchester Utd and Arsenal have the joint record 11 FA Cups – we can reach and surpass this. In the Roman Era, we have four FA Cup wins in eleven Seasons which gives us an impressive 36% win ratio. That has to be the best ratio of the teams in with a chance of winning the FA Cup. This means that we should win it…

The League Cup

We have four of these already:

1965, 1998, 2005, 2007

If Mourinho is sentimental about anything regarding his times with Chelsea, it has to be the League Cup – the first trophy he won in England. We are after all only three games away from winning this one! There is no doubt that the ‘Momentum Cup’ will be taken seriously and consequently, Chelsea must be favourites to win it…

What will we win?

We have established that no club wins four major trophies. We have established that winning three trophies are possible but extremely rare in the English environment. In this day and age, I think a Treble is even more unlikely than it already was. We have also established that we tend to win a trophy a season, so we can expect at least one piece of silverware.

But this Chelsea team is easily the best team we’ve had since the Double winning team. Therefore, I speculate that the current team will also win two trophies, though not necessarily the Double.

Although I think we are marginal favourites for the Premier League title, I still think it will be so close that coming second to Manchester City isn’t unlikely.

I think we’re going to win the League Cup full stop.

The one-match knock-out nature of the FA Cup makes this competition the most liable for upsets. Anything can and will happen in the FA Cup. Perhaps we have had our good run with this one for now. Therefore, I think we will go out, if not ignominiously.

Mourinho, Chelsea and the Champions League have unfinished business. This is the one trophy Jose hasn’t put in our cabinet, and wouldn’t he love to be the first manager to win ol’ Big Ears with three clubs. As well as that, there is a trend of Mourinho hitting the Semi-Finals and from there anything can happen. This time he and Chelsea will see another Final, and when we do, we will both do what we have always done in Champions League finals – win them.