This is the kind of match they have in mind when they speak about six-pointers. Win and get within two points. Lose and fall back to eight. Chelsea were effectively playing for their Champions League lives at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Make no mistake this has been an abject season for them from the very start up to now. To lose to Tottenham Hotspur at home for the first time in the Premier League era just about caps it off.
Chelsea fans took such relish two seasons ago when ending Spurs’s title hopes here at Stamford Bridge.