Chelsea Manager Maurizio Sarri Closing In On This Exceptional Jose Mourinho Record

Chelsea Manager Maurizio Sarri Closing In On This Exceptional Jose Mourinho Record
13:32, 20 Nov 2018

It’s a pretty good time to be a Chelsea fan at the moment.

The Blues are bang in the mix in what is proving to be an enthralling Premier League title race. They remain the only unbeaten club in Europe’s top five leagues. Star man Eden Hazard is in scintillating form, and boss Maurizio Sarri is now a record-holder after he became the first ever boss to go unbeaten in his opening 12 Premier League games.

Chelsea will put their current 18 game unbeaten streak, in all competitions, on the line this weekend when they make the trip across town to Tottenham’s temporary Wembley home. Should the Blues avoid defeat to their London rivals they will edge closer to a juicy club record, one which was generated under the tutelage of former boss Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho previously led Chelsea to an outstanding unbeaten league and cup run of 21 games back at the start of the 2014/15 season, an exceptional streak which remains the club’s longest ever unbeaten start to a campaign.

Should Sarri’s troops go unscathed in their next three matches against Spurs, PAOK, and Fulham, they will match Mourinho’s 21 game feat, then the Italian head coach would have the chance to topple the Portuguese’s Chelsea record with a win or draw against Wolves at the start of December - 22 unbeaten games from the off in your first season in English football would be a simply astonishing accomplishment.

Chelsea’s best unbeaten start to a Premier League season stands at 14 matches, set during that aforementioned 2014/15 campaign, a record that could also be surpassed over the course of the next couple of weeks.

Furthermore, the 2018/19 Chelsea side are edging closer to the club’s longest ever unbeaten sequence, which stands at 23 matches in all competitions, something which they’ve have achieved on three separate occasions.

The first time came back in January-April 2007, under Mourinho. A couple of years later the same stretch of matches occurred under Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti (April-September 2009), before Mourinho returned for a second spell, going 23 games undefeated once again (May-December 2014).

Should Chelsea maintain their current unbeaten streak from now until December’s crunch clash against defending champions Man City, they will draw level with the 23 game club record. The Blues would then need to avoid defeat in their following fixture away to MOL Vidi FC (Europa League) in order to cement themselves in the history books as the only Chelsea side to ever go 24 matches unbeaten in all competitions.

However, Sarri’s troops still have some way to go if they are to eclipse the remarkable 40 game unbeaten Premier League sequence, accomplished under - surprise, surprise - Mourinho over the course of a year and two split-seasons (October 2004 to October 2005).

Chelsea’s second-best unbeaten Premier League run was a streak of 13 matches back in the 2016/17 season under Antonio Conte, who would go on to lead the Blues to top-flight glory.

Sarri will take it one game at a time, but his superb start shows that he’s in the process of creating something pretty special at Stamford Bridge.

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