The 2015–16 season was Chelsea Football Club's 102nd competitive season, 27th consecutive season in the top flight of English football, 24th consecutive season in the Premier League and 110th year in existence as a football club. They entered the season as reigning Premier League champions after winning the title for a fifth time in 2014–15, and also participated in the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Community Shield and UEFA Champions League.
The season was the first since 2003–04 without Petr Čech, who joined rivals Arsenal.
Kits Supplier: adidas/ Sponsor: Yokohama Tyres.
Starting with this season, the Yokohama Rubber Company replaced Samsung Electronics as Chelsea's shirt sponsor.
Month-by-month review
June Left winger Gaël Kakuta left the Blues to join La Liga side Sevilla, for a fee of £2.5 million.
Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech left the club to join London rivals Arsenal on a three-year deal. He played 486 games for the Blues in all competitions, winning four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, two Community Shields, one UEFA Champions League and one UEFA Europa League.
July On 3 July, the Blues announced the signing of Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan deal from Monaco.
Young central midfielders Josh McEachran and Marco van Ginkel left the Blues. McEachran joined Championship club Brentford on a four-year deal for a reported £750,000, while Van Ginkel joined Stoke City on a year-long loan deal. Under-21 player Andreas Christensen also left on a season-long loan, joining Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Nathan and Isaiah Brown were loaned to Eredivisie club Vitesse Arnhem.
On 13 July, the Blues completed the signing of Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begović from Stoke City on a four-year deal for a reported £8 million. Patrick Bamford extended his contract for another three years and was loaned to Premier League outfit Crystal Palace.
José Mourinho also confirmed that Bertrand Traoré would be a part of his first-team plans for 2015–16, as would Victor Moses. On 28 July, left-back Filipe Luís left the Blues after just one year, moving back to former club Atlético Madrid for a reported £11.1 million.
August Chelsea lost the 2015 FA Community Shield 1–0 to Arsenal thanks to an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain goal in the 24th minute. Diego Costa missed the game through injury, and it was the first time Arsène Wenger defeated José Mourinho in 14 attempts.
On 3 August, Todd Kane signed a new three-year deal at the club, keeping him at the Blues until 2018. Young England forward Dominic Solanke joined fellow Blues players Izzy Brown, Lewis Baker, Nathan and Danilo Pantić on loan at Dutch Eredivisie team Vitesse Arnhem on a season long loan.
On 5 August, Chelsea lost 1–0 to Fiorentina.
Mohamed Salah joined Roma on a season-long loan and Todd Kane joined NEC Nijmegen. On 7 August, manager José Mourinho has signed a new four-year contract, keeping him at Stamford Bridge until at least 2019. Young centre-back Alex Davey joins Peterborough United on a one-month loan deal.
Chelsea started their Premier League campaign at home against Swansea City. Swansea came from behind twice to draw 2–2 with ten-man Chelsea. Oscar gave the Blues the lead before André Ayew drew Swansea level, yet Chelsea went in 2–1 up at the break thanks to a Federico Fernández own goal. Six minutes into the second half, Thibaut Courtois was sent off for a last-man foul on Bafétimbi Gomis; Gomis converted the resulting penalty to equalise for the Swans. This match involved an incident in which Eva Carneiro, the Chelsea team doctor, came on to treat Eden Hazard – an action for which she was later criticised by José Mourinho. Carneiro would later take the club to court and eventually won a £5 million settlement. This event, however, signalled the beginning of a downward spiral that would culminate in José Mourinho's sacking.
Oriol Romeu joined Southampton after four years as a Chelsea player in which he made 33 appearances, scoring once from the penalty spot against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2012.
Nathan Aké signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea and will continue his development by spending this season on loan in the Premier League at Watford.
Manchester City hammered the Blues 3–0 at the City of Manchester Stadium, goals from Sergio Agüero, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho condemning José Mourinho to his joint-heaviest defeat whilst in charge of Chelsea. Despite only being the second game of the season, Manchester City move five points ahead of the Blues. Directly after the game, German Bundesliga club FC Augsburg announce that Baba Rahman has signed for Chelsea for a reported fee of £21.7 million.
The Blues announce the signing of Barcelona winger Pedro for a reported £21.4 million, signing a four-year deal with Chelsea. Pedro has won the World Cup, European Championship, three UEFA Champions Leagues and numerous titles in Spain with Barça. Pedro will wear the number 17 shirt, which was given to him by Baba Rahman, the latter vacating it to number 6. The number 17 was previously worn by Eden Hazard and Mohamed Salah.
On 23 August, the Blues announced the signing of Kenedy from Fluminense, who will wear the number 16 shirt. Pedro stars on his Chelsea debut as he scores one and assists another as the Blues win their first game of the season against West Bromwich Albion. Thibaut Courtois saved a first half James Morrison penalty before goals from Pedro, Diego Costa and César Azpilicueta sent Chelsea in 3–1 up at the break. Despite having John Terry sent off in the 54th minute, Chelsea held on to claim all three points.
Chelsea are drawn away against Walsall in the Third round Capital One Cup. While Juan Cuadrado signs on a year-long loan deal for Italian Serie A club Juventus.
In José Mourinho's 200th Premier League match (and 100th league match at home), Chelsea lost 2–1 to Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge. This marked only the second time Mourinho had suffered a home defeat in the league as Chelsea manager, and it was also just his third home defeat in all competitions while in charge of Chelsea. Goals from Bakary Sako and Joel Ward either side of Radamel Falcao's first goal for the Blues sent Chelsea eight points behind leaders Manchester City.
September
On transfer deadline day, Chelsea announced the signing of Nantes defender Papy Djilobodji for a reported £2.7 million. Victor Moses extended his contract for another four years and was loaned to West Ham United. The Blues also signed Michael Hector for a reported £4 million from Reading; he was immediately loaned back to Reading for the entirety of the season.
First choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was ruled out for up to three months with a knee injury. The Blues' poor form continued as they suffered another defeat, this time away at Everton. A Steven Naismith hat-trick condemned Chelsea to a third defeat after just five games, as many as they suffered in the entire previous season.
Chelsea won their first home game of the season as they defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 4–0. Goals from Willian, Oscar, Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas sent the Blues top of Group G after one game. This victory was Chelsea's first clean sheet since the Blues won the title last May 1–0 against Crystal Palace.
Goals from Kurt Zouma and a Calum Chambers own goal gave Chelsea a 2–0 victory over nine-man Arsenal. Gabriel and Santi Cazorla were sent off for the Gunners, the former for kicking out at Diego Costa and the latter for receiving two yellow cards. The Blues also kept their first clean sheet of the 2015–16 Premier League season. Zouma's goal was his first in the Premier League for Chelsea. Two days after the game, both Chelsea and Arsenal were charged with failing to control their players. Costa was charged with an act of violent conduct for the incident that started the disturbance, in which he slapped Laurent Koscielny in the face, which was not seen by the match officials but was caught on video. Costa was given a three-match suspension. Gabriel had his three-match suspension withdrawn after a "wrongful dismissal claim" from Arsenal and was available for their next match.
Chelsea came from 2–0 down with ten minutes to play to secure a point away to Newcastle United thanks to late goals from substitutes Ramires and Willian. Ayoze Pérez and Georginio Wijnaldum sent the Magpies ahead before the Brazilian substitutes sent the Blues five points off the top four.
The Blues' last game in September finished in a 2–1 loss at Porto in a hard-fought game. Chelsea failed to claim a draw as goals from André André and Maicon sent Porto one point ahead of Chelsea.
October
Chelsea's poor start to the season continued as Southampton came from behind to record a victory at Stamford Bridge. The Blues had taken only eight points from a possible 24 this season and were only four above the relegation zone. After Saturday's home defeat, Chelsea offered their full support to manager José Mourinho. Meanwhile, Blues captain John Terry said the 52-year-old Portuguese was the best person to help the club recover from their miserable start. "If anyone is going to get us out of this hole it is going to be José Mourinho", said the 34-year-old defender.
The Blues defeated Aston Villa 2–0 at Stamford Bridge, with a Diego Costa goal and an Alan Hutton own goal. José Mourinho dropped Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matić and Gary Cahill and chose to start youngsters Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Baba Rahman. Four days later, Chelsea drew 0–0 with Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, keeping them in third place one point behind the Ukrainian champions.
José Mourinho and Nemanja Matić were sent off as Chelsea's miserable Premier League campaign continued with a 2–1 defeat at West Ham on 24 October. Mauro Zárate fired the Hammers in front when Chelsea failed to clear a corner. Matić was sent off after being booked twice in nine minutes before the break, and Mourinho joined him after speaking to referee Jon Moss at halftime. Gary Cahill levelled from a corner but Andy Carroll met Aaron Cresswell's cross to send the Hammers to second in the table.
Chelsea crashed out of the League Cup in the fourth round after Jack Butland's penalty shootout heroics earned ten-man Stoke City a 5–4 spot-kick win that increased the pressure on José Mourinho. Jonathan Walters struck a goal worthy of winning any contest to give Stoke the lead early in the second half, before Loïc Rémy's injury-time equaliser took the tie the distance at the Britannia Stadium. After nine out of the first nine spot-kicks were clinically despatched—with the likes of Charlie Adam, Marko Arnautović, Oscar, Rémy and Willian successful—Eden Hazard saw his attempt brilliantly saved by Jack Butland, who earned his side a place in the last eight.
Philippe Coutinho scored twice as Liverpool came from behind to beat Chelsea 3–1 at Stamford Bridge on 31 October to ratchet up the pressure yet further on the beleaguered Mourinho. A Ramires header gave the Premier League champions the lead after just four minutes, but compatriot Coutinho fired Liverpool level in some style just before half-time. Oscar came close with a long-range chip, but chances were few and far between in the second half until another Coutinho effort clipped John Terry and flew past Asmir Begović. Christian Benteke made sure of the points with a composed finish in the closing minutes as Jürgen Klopp secured his first league win since taking charge of Liverpool.
November
Chelsea eased the pressure on manager José Mourinho as Willian's late winner gave them a crucial Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv at Stamford Bridge. The win moved the Blues into second place in Group G, three points behind leaders Porto, but now with a two-point cushion to Dynamo.
Premier League-wise, though, Chelsea continued their struggle as they lost in a 1–0 away game at Stoke City. Seeing Norwich City win, this left them 16th in the League and three points above relegation.