End-of-season report: Chelsea

Chelsea have endured a tough time in the league in 2011-12 but have reached two finals in cup competitions.

Unsurprisingly, there has also been a managerial change at Stamford Bridge, with former Blue Roberto Di Matteo replacing young Portuguese coach Andre Villas-Boas midway through the season.

Sports Mole takes you through the twists and turns of a turbulent season in West London.

August

Juan Mata was the marquee signing in a comparatively quiet transfer window for the Roman Abramovich reign, but much of the attention was on January's £50m record buy, Fernando Torres.

In terms of results, they followed a stalemate against Stoke City with victories over West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City. Two wins and a draw during their first three games was a satisfying start for AVB.

September

September began with another victory, this time a 2-1 triumph over Sunderland, before they faced Manchester United in the Blues' first real test of their possible title credentials.

Despite scoring, Torres will be remembered for an open-goal miss as United ran out 3-1 winners. The Spaniard would however be on the score-sheet again in their 4-1 victory over Premier League new boys Swansea.

Away from the league, Chelsea progressed on penalties against West London neighbours Fulham in the Carling Cup and took four points from their two opening Champions League games against Bayer Leverkusen and Valencia.

October

Villas-Boas's side seemed to be finding their feet when October came around. A 5-1 thrashing of Bolton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge preceded a 5-0 tonking of Genk in Europe.

In between these two convincing victories came a win over Everton, who they also beat, albeit in extra time, to progress to the Carling Cup fifth round.

However the month did not end as promisingly as it started. After a defeat at Queens Park Rangers, the Blues were once again found wanting when they were devastated 5-3 by a rampant Arsenal, led by their talisman Robin Van Persie.

November

Defeats to Liverpool in both league and Carling Cup action were the low points of a disappointing penultimate month of the year.

In Europe, the London side did not fare much better as they suffered defeat at Bayer Leverkusen and were held to a draw by Genk in Belgium.

Premier League victories over Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers did little to nullify rumours that Villas-Boas's job was under threat just four months into his reign.

December

It was widely thought that exit from the Champions League would prompt the infamously impatient Abramovich into another sacking. Chelsea got the result when it mattered though, beating Valencia 3-0 to secure passage into the knockout stages.

Consecutive league wins over Newcastle United and previously-unbeaten Manchester City brought with them talk of a turn in fortunes.

However, three straight 1-1 league draws against Wigan, Spurs and Fulham left them 11 points adrift of the Manchester pair approaching the New Year, with Villas-Boas conceding that the title may now be beyond their reach.

January

Chelsea went unbeaten in January, notching league wins against Wolves and Sunderland and advancing to the fifth round of the FA cup with wins over Portsmouth and QPR.

The Stamford Bridge club also took solitary points from trips to the impressive new Premier League duo of Norwich and Swansea.

February

50 minutes into February things looked rosy for Villas Boas's men - they were 3-0 up against league champions Manchester United.

The Red Devils then staged a remarkable comeback to snatch a point at the Bridge before Chelsea were defeated 2-0 at Everton, who were again coming good in the second half of the season.

A tame draw to Championship side Birmingham followed in the FA Cup before hopes of European glory looked all but over following a 3-1 defeat in Naples.

March

March was a jam-packed month for the Blues and they began with a loss at West Brom that spelled the end of Villas-Boas's short reign as boss.

Roberto Di Matteo took the helm as interim boss and came through the replay with Birmingham in his first game in charge before claiming a league win at Stoke.

Di Matteo's first test came against Napoli in the return European leg. The Blues took the tie to extra time after a 3-1 90-minute victory and Branislav Ivanovic drove into the roof of the net to send Blues fans into raptures.

The Blues' upturn in form continued with victories against Leicester in the Cup, Benfica in the Champions League and Aston Villa back home.

April

Di Matteo guided Chelsea to yet another Champions League semi by overcoming Benfica in a nervy tie at the Bridge.

They then advanced to the final of the FA Cup with victory over Spurs at Wembley before their impressive form outside of the league continued by somehow snatching a 1-0 triumph over Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.

A lacklustre goalless draw at Arsenal followed before a pulsating evening at the Camp Nou resulted in Chelsea reaching a European final.

It was one of the all-time great Champions League nights in Catalonia, with John Terry seeing red as Barcelona looked set to romp to victory. However, Ramires dinked cleverly over Valdes before an attack-versus-defence second 45 culminated with Torres stealing away late on to seal progression to the final.

Chelsea finished the penultimate month of the season with a comprehensive victory over QPR.

May

Despite their position in two finals, Chelsea's hopes of finishing in the top four were ended when in-form Newcastle frontman Papiss Cisse scored a pair of wonder goals at the Bridge.

Next was an FA Cup final date with Liverpool that Di Matteo's men came out on top in despite a rousing second-half display from the Reds. The final will perhaps be most remembered for an Andy Carroll header that seemed destined for the back of the net, only for Petr Cech to somehow deny the big Englishman with a quite brilliant stop.

The Blues would again face Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool three days later in the league and this time it was the Anfield club who came out on top, romping to a 4-1 win.

The result consigned Chelsea to a sixth-place finish, despite recording a 2-1 win over already-relegated Blackburn on the final day, meaning that they must defeat Bayern Munich this weekend to guarantee them a spot in the Champions League next season.