Here, Press Association Sport'sBen Rumsby details five things manager Andre Villas-Boas should do to arrest their alarming slump.

1. DON'T PANIC

There is always the temptation to make dramatic changes when a side is on the kind of run Chelsea are currently enduring, but what they need most at the moment is stability. With a game against struggling Wolves coming up, Villas-Boas should stick with his current XI, barring a change at left-back if Ashley Cole recovers from injury.

2. WORK ON SET PIECES

Last night exposed Chelsea's weakness at corners and free-kicks at present, both in attack and defence. They wasted almost all of their dead-ball opportunities going forward and looked vulnerable at the other end. Villas-Boas admitted his side need to work harder at this, although there is little time before their next game on Saturday.

3. KEEP A CLEAN SHEET AT (ALMOST) ALL COSTS

The only way to restore the fragile confidence of Chelsea's out-of-sorts defenders is for them to keep a run of clean sheets. These are players who are conditioned to shut out the opposition and they are clearly struggling to handle their current inability to do so. Even Manchester United have played more conservatively since their 6-1 derby drubbing.

4. STOP TALKING ABOUT LAST SEASON'S SLUMP

Villas-Boas has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that his players are motivated by last season's winter of discontent not to repeat the slump again. But it looks like they are paralysed by fear of a repeat. He may not be able to prevent the media talking about it, but Villas-Boas's own messages to his players need to be relentlessly positive.

5. PREPARE FOR SUMMER CLEAR-OUT

Whatever Villas-Boas says about the "talent at our disposal", it is clear some of his players are struggling to adapt to his philosophy. He needs to decide which of them can cope and which cannot, and be prepared to spend in January and sell in the summer to bring in those more suited to the Barcelona-style game demanded by Abramovich.