THE VITALS:

Team: Chelsea

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2015-16 (Used for the 2015-16 Premier League season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt remains in very good condition, however, there is some small cracking to the sponsor, a blemish next to the Adidas embroidery and some general discolouring of the white.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 18.5 inches

Shirt Length: 27.5 inches 

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaCool’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2015 – this shirt is the quintessential size small fitting football shirt!

DESCRIPTION:

It was a new era for Chelsea as Yokohama Tyres took over as the club’s main shirt sponsor ahead of the 2015-16 season and the away shirt would also help make up an exceptionally classy and clean triumvirate of shirts that Adidas produced for the reigning Premier League champions. Continuing the use of red as the club’s tertiary colour; this shirt is the quintessential successor to the white away shirt used in the 2013-14 season and would beautifully implement Adidas’ kit motif of the 2015-16 season – utilising a blue band across the hem, while red, white and blue bands adorned the sleeves. Lastly, a white hoop neck was used to break up the three stripes that run down the sleeves in what is truly a fantastic shirt!

THE SEASON:

‘The Special One’ weaved his magic once again as Jose Mourinho comprehensive guided Chelsea to the 2014-15 Premier League title in his second season of his second spell in charge of the club; dethroning the reigning champions and adding the League Cup along the way – just as he did ten years previously in his legendary 2004-05 season at the helm!

Although eye-brows were raised at what seemed to be a very short four game pre-season which mostly took place in the United States; the signings of: Asmir Begovic, Radamel Falcao, Kenedy, Baba Rahman and later his former adversary from Barcelona – Pedro still made ‘The Blues’ the favourites to defend their crown in the 2015-16 season.

Their title defence began at home to Swansea City, where Thiabaut Courtois was sent off in a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on 8^th August. Their worrying build up to the season and subsequent draw at home would be vindicated as Manchester City inflicted a 3-0 defeat to the champions some 8 days later. Pedro would net on his debut, however, an unconvincing 3-2 win away to West Bromwich Albion where again, Chelsea would be reduced to ten men, would do nothing quell the early season naysayers. What began as a nightmare start would become a reality as Chelsea languished in 2015 – winning just 3 of their next 13 games, and with defeats against the likes of: Crystal Palace, Everton, Southampton, West Ham United, Liverpool, Stoke City, Bournemouth and finally Leicester City; Roman Abramovich would relieve Jose Mourinho of his duties on 17^th December with the club in an embarrassing 16^th place after 16 games.

Former interim manager – Guus Hiddink was brought in for a second spell of his own, and would help Chelsea to their first win since 21^st November, when they overcame Sunderland 3-1. This would be the beginning of a 15 match unbeaten run in the league; the problem however, was that 8 of those games ended in a draw. While the top-4 was now 11 points away with only 7 games to spare; a European place in the 2016-17 season was still only 6 points away with games against Liverpool and Manchester City, and with games against both Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City still; the soon to be former champions could still very well decide the fate of the 2015-16 trophy! Back to back defeats to Swansea and Man City left their European hopes all but over, however, they would take part in an enthralling 2-2 draw at home to Spurs on 2^nd May, where they came from 2-0 down to earn the point and ensure that Leicester were crowned as champions amidst a very emotional encounter at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea would end the season in 10^th place – their lowest league finish since finishing in 11^th in the 1995-96 season.

Chelsea took their place as one half of the 2015 Community Shield match alongside Arsenal on 2^nd August 2015, and Arsene Wenger would finally defeat Jose Mourinho as Arsenal won 1-0 and in the process, avenging Arsenal’s defeat to a Jose Mourinho managed Chelsea in the 2005 Community Shield match a decade earlier!

Chelsea’s defence of the League Cup ended in the Fourth Round after a stunning upset on penalties at the hands of Stoke City on 27^th October and their FA Cup journey would reach as far as the quarter-finals before they were beaten 2-0 by Everton thanks to a brace from their former striker – Romelu Lukaku.

Chelse’s best performances – especially the tumultuous 2015 portion of the season came in the UEFA Champions League where they were drawn in Group G alongside – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dynamo Kyiv and FC Porto. Chelsea began with a 4-0 win at home to the Israeli side before falling 2-1, away to Porto on Match-Day 2. A draw away against Dynamo Kyiv left qualification hanging in the balance; however, the 2011-12 Champions League winners would rally to win their remaining 3 games with Willian netting in all three fixtures to add to goals he scored previously against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Porto.

Despite their heroics in eventually topping the group; Chelsea would be met the challenge of Paris Saint Germain in the knockout stages for the third season running. Cast firmly as underdogs for the first time in this trilogy since their legendary come-from-behind victory in the 2^nd leg of their quarter-final clash in 2014; unfortunately for them, it would be PSG who would win the rubber match in the trilogy with a pair of 2-1 wins to eliminate Chelsea in the Last 16 for the second season in a row.

The notable players that season were:

Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa, Pedro, Loic Remy, Alexandre Pato, Eden Hazard, Kenedy, Juan Cuadrado, Willian, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Bertrand Traore, Oscar, Ramires, Mikel, Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas, Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Kurt Zouma, Branislav Ivanovic, Baba Rahman, Thibaut Courtois, Asmir Begovic, Marco Amelia