Since losing to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final Chelsea’s players have played as though their season is over.

It is hard to believe that they would place such importance on England’s secondary cup competition but it can’t just be coincidental that they have been very poor since their exit.

They are certainly not going to successfully defend their Premier League title, and in fact, they may even have a fight to stay in the top four if they carry on as they are.

Their chances in the Champion’s League took a steep nosedive when they were drawn against Barcelona in the next round so that would also appear to be a trophy they can cross off their list for this season.

The problem now is that, after a home defeat to Bournemouth by 0-3 followed by defeat at Watford 4-1, it will be very difficult to get back up for the games they think matter.

Hull City, who are their next opponents in the FA Cup, will suddenly be confident of getting a result at Stamford Bridge and, if they do, then Chelsea’s season probably is over.

Many people are blaming the current crisis on the manager Antonio Conte. He struggles to understand questions when he is interviewed and, like many foreign coaches, prefers to try and answer them rather than admit he hasn’t a clue what the question was!

This inevitably gets him in hot water at times as it did when he was asked about comments made by José Mourinho. Those comments were generalisations but he misunderstood them to be about him personally and a mini-feud was started.

He also appears to have misjudged the Chelsea owner and may very soon find out that publicly baiting him about new signings and backing his manager is not the way to enhance his job security.

The most important game of the season for Chelsea is now their next one against West Bromwich Albion. If they lose that then their following games will be daunting.

In truth, even if they win that one their next games will be daunting because, after playing Hull in the FA Cup, they play Barcelona, Manchester United and Manchester City, both away, Crystal Palace then Barcelona again.

By early March, Chelsea could be out of everything, including the top four. If this is the case the chances are extremely good that Antonio Conte will, by then, be out of a job.

His successor will have a similar job to do as Guus Hiddink when he replaced josé Mourinho, again after the players decided to stop playing and doing as they were told.

This is what makes people now believe that some of the players at Chelsea are too powerful and it is they who decide their manager’s future.

If that is the case then it needs to be addressed and those players need to be moved on. It is too much of a coincidence that they seem to have downed tools for a second time in the last few years and the manager seems to be able to do little or nothing about it.

As is always the case with Chelsea and Roman Abramovich, it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Read more from Iain at WhySayAnything.com