On Tuesday evening, Chelsea were the recipient of a humbling and demoralising defeat courtesy of title-chasing Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Although it has been a shambolic season for the Blues, encapsulated by this embarrassing loss, the defence has just conceded 38 times in the league – a total that is only bettered by Manchester City and Newcastle.
The predominant issue for the west London outfit, which plagued the tumultuous reign of Graham Potter and has been even more apparent under Frank Lampard, has been the disjointed nature of the attack and inability to score goals.
Chelsea have only netted on 31 occasions in 34 outings, which for a club boasting their offensive talent and excessive spending, is unforgivable.
The transfer policy has been questionable and damaging, and one of the most criminal signings has been that of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – whose time at the 2021 Champions League winners has been a complete disaster.
What's gone wrong for Aubameyang at Chelsea?
The striker joined the Blues last summer for £10m, off the back of scoring 105 goals in 187 games for Arsenal and Barcelona.
However, his time at his latest club has been abysmal, only bagging three goals in 22 outings in all competitions.
The Gabonese forward has started just five times in the Premier League, with the latest one coming in the London Derby. Prior to returning to his former club, Lampard stated that the 33-year-old will have a “certain motivation” to ramp up excitement and intrigue around the match.
But, the forward dramatically failed to make any impact and produced a limp display. In 45 minutes, he managed just nine touches – four of which from kickoff – and failed to register any shots, successful dribbles, key passes, or accurate passes, as per Sofascore.
This passivity summed up his anonymous season for the “embarrassing” – as per Craig Burley – £160k-per-week, who looks destined for an exit in the coming window.
Earlier in the week, journalist Matt Law reported that Chelsea may have to offload the 63-cap international on a free transfer in order to sanction his departure this summer.
The Aubameyang ordeal is symbolic of the disjointed, dishevelled, and obscene debut season for the new hierarchy. The attacker has barely been utilised and often frozen out to question why the transfer was authorised in the first place.
His minimal involvement has stalled the development of fellow new boy David Datro Fofana, who is experiencing similar treatment to his positional peer.
His time at the Blues has been more underwhelming than Mykhailo Mudryk, who despite setting the club back a whopping £88.5m, is still in a tricky period of adaptation and is likely to have a bright future at the club.
Indeed, Boehly invested in Mudryk's potential, with that fee likely to be paid back should he live up to his immense promise, with Roberto De Zerbi having previously said he could become a Ballon d'Or winner.
Aubameyang, by comparison, is past his best and has a bleaker future at Chelsea with his one-year stint back in the capital a completely pointless ordeal. Indeed, it looks highly unlikely that he'll be gracing the Stamford Bridge turf in the next campaign.