It's still too early to suggest there's a crisis at Stamford Bridge, even if Antonio Conte's rage dial has been cranked up to 11 and their defence has forgotten how to prevent the opposition scoring.

What exactly is going wrong at Chelsea this season?

Lack of midfield cover

Simply, Chelsea really miss N'Golo Kante. Attacking players are usually praised for their ability to stay two steps ahead, facilitating lovely through-balls and creating chances with their superior vision, defensive ones occasionally for anticipating danger. Instead of creating, Kante destroys - it is as valuable a skill as Eden Hazard's trickery - and combined with that indefatigable work-rate, he cleans up mistakes, provides protection and forces teams to direct their passing elsewhere in order to bypass him.

Without Kante, Chelsea lack mobility in the middle of the pitch. Tiemoue Bakayoko has looked a solid signing but while composed with the ball at his feet and capable of making a tackle or two, he doesn't bring the hustle and bustle that Kante does. Nobody does.

The layer of protection afforded by Nemanja Matic and Kante last season has gone. As a result, defenders like David Luiz and Gary Cahill are more exposed than they would like, and mistakes happen. At an elite level, these are punished.