It started with an ill-fated and very public attack on the team physio and finished with Jose Mourinho, the self-proclaimed "The Chosen One", sacked for the second time as Chelsea manager, just seven months after winning the Premier League title.

If there is one moment which you’d have to pick out to explain this sacking, it was Mourinho’s rant against his first-team doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn for attending to an injured Eden Hazard during Chelsea’s first league game against Swansea in August.

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What happened next would become the key talking point in this Premier League: Mourinho was heavily criticised, Carneiro launched a legal suit, and Chelsea plummeted from one abyss into another.

Eight days after that fracas came another early warning of Chelsea’s abjectness. Against league leaders Manchester City, Chelsea were outclassed and then demolished as City raced away to a 3-0 win.

As the losses piled up, Mourinho’s calm demeanour became increasingly frayed. It seemed from his post-match press conferences that he was inhabiting another world – after the City loss, he claimed that the result was “fake”. Even more bizarrely after a 3-1 loss to Everton, Mourinho said he believed “the game was completely under control”.

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Then came the game against West Ham where Mourinho was sent off from the touchline after a furious rant at the referee.

Things were going downhill quickly, but Chelsea stuck by their man grimly. However, after the loss to league leaders Leicester City, Mourinho opened a new front to explain his failures – he had a go at his players, accusing them of “betraying” him.

That was probably it. With his relationship with the players completely destroyed, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich probably had no other choice. The axe fell, Abramovich acted, and yet again The Chosen One finds himself without a job. And Chelsea find themselves manager-less, embarrassingly close to the relegation zone, and – surprise, surprise – in the second round of the Champions' League.