Over the next week, football.london will be taking a look back at the key events at Stamford Bridge over an unforgettable 2022.
And so the season began. At Goodison Park, Chelsea struggled to an unconvincing, but important, victory over a well-organised Everton in a Saturday evening kick-off.
For Thomas Tuchel, it was a breaking of a five-year curse that saw the Blues fail to win at Everton since April of 2017 under Antonio Conte. Frank Lampard was naturally applauded and praised by the travelling Chelsea support after, with a first-half Jorginho penalty enough to secure the three points.
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Days earlier Chelsea had secured another notable transfer in Marc Cucurella from Brighton. A reported £62million deal gazumped Manchester City's previous bid, including some confusion days before the signing announcement as Brighton released a statement on Twitter denying strong reports a deal had been agreed between both clubs.
In the end, Cucurella became a Chelsea player, the sweetener in the deal seeing Levi Colwill head in the opposite direction on loan for the campaign.
A fiery contest against Spurs at Stamford Bridge on the second weekend of the season saw a flurry of incredible memes erupt on Twitter after the handshake heard around the world between Tuchel and Conte which followed 95 minutes of touchline antics.
Kalidou Koulibaly had given Chelsea a deserved lead with a thunderous volley from a corner, but Chelsea's old foe Anthony Taylor became the centre of attention as he was maligned for failing to give a clear foul on Kai Havertz in the build-up to Spurs' second-half equaliser. Reece James restored Chelsea's lead which prompted Tuchel to sprint down the touchline Mourinho-style.
But again officiating would define the game as somehow VAR official Mike Dean missed the hair pull on Cucurella from Cristian Romero. The following corner saw Harry Kane level the game in added time to add to an already dramatic derby.
Chelsea felt hard done by but had put in their best performance since Real Madrid in April.
A week later though, that optimism was soon extinguished as Chelsea were comfortably beaten by an inspired Leeds side at Ellan Road 3-0. The manner of the defeat brought up all the concerns of pre-season and a forlorn-looking Tuchel. Although Chelsea would bounce back in inspired fashion, holding out for a 2-1 win over Leicester despite playing with 10 men for over a half, a dismal 2-1 defeat at Southampton ramped pressure back up.
The month on the pitch would end with another dramatic game at the Bridge in a London derby, this time against West Ham. Michail Antonio gave the Hammers a lead is a messy fashion on the hour mark, but Tuchel's inspired substitutes would make the difference, with both Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz netting to claim a desperately needed win. Chelsea was incredibly lucky though as Maxwell Cornet's equaliser soon after Havertz's goal was ruled out controversially by VAR for a foul on Edouard Mendy.
Off the pitch Chelsea continued to remain busy in the transfer window, sealing a £70million deal for defender Wesley Fofana on the final day of the month ahead of deadline day after a drawn-out pursuit from Leicester.
On the eve of deadline day, it appeared that Chelsea had sparked interest in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona with an eye for a reunion with Tuchel after their success together at Borussia Dortmund. August also saw confirmation of departures for Timo Werner back to RB Leipzig and Callum Hudson-Odoi on loan to Bayer Leverkusen.
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