Things change quickly in football.
After a much-changed side were held by Krasnodar in a dead rubber Champions League game, Chelsea were toasting 17 games unbeaten. Not since Liverpool back on September 20 had a side got the better of them.
Defensively they had clicked - 10 clean sheets during the run - and new signings were showing signs of finding their feet. There were more and more proclamations that they are title winners in the making.
And yet two defeats in four days arrived as something of a brutal reality check.