Chelsea need to break a Premier League record to make the top four this season

It's impossible to exaggerate the size of the task facing Chelsea.

The Blues face an uphill struggle to even make the Champions League places after winning just three of their first 10 games, and history is against Jose Mourinho's side. Sky Sports have crunched the numbers and worked out that no team has ever made the top four after such a poor start, with Leeds in 1998/99 and Manchester United last season the only ones to come close. David O'Leary's and Louis van Gaal's teams both had 13 points at this stage of the campaign, but were much closer to the Champions League places than Mourinho's Chelsea are at present. United were just four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, while Leeds were just three behind fourth-placed Liverpool in a congested table. Chelsea have a gap of nine points to Van Gaal's team after 10 games of the 2015/16 campaign. There is one positive for Chelsea, however. Back in 2006/07, Rafa Benitez's Liverpool had 14 points from their first 10 games but ended the season third, making up a six-point gap on Bolton...and then some.