Jose Mourinho hopes to arrest an alarming slump in form when they take on Maccabi Tel Aviv tomorrow in the start of the Champions League.
A near disaaterous opening five league games has yielded just four points. But with the visit of Isreal's top side to the Bridge, Blues fans will be looking for a marked improvement in player performance.
But in an exclusive interview with the journalist who knows the opposition best, Ben Mittelman, Sports Correspondent from Israel's Channel 2, tells Chelsea-Mad that while Chelsea are favourites to win, they won't have it all their own way and an upset could be on the cards.
He said: "From Jose Mourinho's point of view, I can assure that he couldn't choose a more suitable opponent than Maccabi Tel Aviv, in an attempt to halt their dreadful run of form.
"Maccabi is a decent and proud team that have won the Israeli championship three times in a row, but any result other than a comfortable win for Chelsea will prove that the crisis the Blues are in is much deeper than Jose and the fans would have imagined.
"The danger man that Chelsea should be very aware of is number 7 Eran Zahavi.
"It is no wonder that fans of other teams in Israel call the team 'Maccabi Zahavi'.
The 28 year-old has been playing brilliantly since he came back to Israel from a non-flashy stint at Palermo in Italy's Serie A.
"He scored 90 goals in less than three seasons (numbers that are more familiar to players like Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi). He scored 13 goals this season already, seven of them in the quest to get to the Champions League group stage.
"He isn't the most talented player in the world (he thinks that he's even not the best player in Israel), but he always know where to be and if Chelsea leave him for a second, they will get punished.
"But much more important, he always shines at the highest level, in the crucial moments. He did it hundred times in Israel, and this season he shows it in Europe as well. When Maccabi played against Victoria Plzen, they needed two goals to qualify, with less than 15 minutes to go. Zahavi scored them both. Then at the last round of the qualifications, Maccabi achieved their finest result, a 2-2 draw away to FC Basel. Again, Zahavi scored both goals, the latter was a magnificent header at the 93rd minute.
In the return match, Maccabi were behind again, so Zahavi equalised and earned Maccabi the precious ticket to the Champions League.
"In my opinion, if Chelsea stop Zahavi, Maccabi have no chance of getting a shock result. I just did an interview with Zahavi for Israeli Channel 2 News, and he claimed that even it is likely that Maccabi will not control the game, he is very confident of his team's chances to play some good football and make the thousands of the Israeli fans who will attend the game proud.
"The only other threat in Maccabi's attack might be the speedy winger, no 11, Tel Ben Haim. Yes, he has the exact same name as the ex-Chelsea defender, Tel Ben Haim, who used to play for Chelsea. But don't worry, he too is playing for Maccabi these days.
"After they clinched their place at the Champions League, Maccabi had some extra money to spend and strengthen the team. The Technical Director, the well-known Jordy Cruyff, signed the giant goalkeeper Predrag Rajcovic, 19. The Serbian is a world under-20 youth championship and he is considered by many as the best young goalkeeper in the world. He won't have a better chance this season to show his skills.
For Maccabi he played only twice, and after an impressive debut, he conceded a silly goal last Saturday in a 1-1 draw in the Israeli league against Kiryat Shmona.
"The most important thing for Chelsea facing Maccabi (other than prove that they can actually finish a game without conceding a goal this season) is not to take the opponents for granted. Maccabi has a great attitude and never-give-up, and they have a habit of scoring at the final stages of any game.
Personally, as an Israeli sports writer that covers Maccabi and a Chelsea fan, I'm looking forward to the return match, when Mourinho and his boys will travel to Israel. The last time Chelsea were playing here, they lost 0-0 to Hapoel Tel Aviv, the city rivals of Maccabi. Slavisa Jokanovic used to play for Chelsea back at the days. He is the manager of Maccabi today."