Five under-performing Chelsea stars this season including captain Reece James

Chelsea are obviously a work in progress under manager Mauricio Pochettino so there will be bumps on the road and results will fluctuate as seen so far this season. To an extent, it's fine if they don't qualify for the Champions League next season - but they do have quality in the team to be better than the 10th place they currently are stuck in.

The owners will take their fair share of the blame and recruitment can be questioned with teams like Aston Villa, Brighton and West Ham all with relatively smaller resources higher up the table than the Blues. Chelsea have been more than good enough to compete with the top teams even though they have struggled against the likes of Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, West Ham - and recently Newcastle.

So with owners, the board and the manager all holding a share of the blame for the below-par start to the season. Here are five players who have not hit the heights expected which has had an effect on the team's overall performance.

Reece James

As a captain of the ship, he's got to lead by example. James has been incredibly unlucky with injuries and it remains to be seen if he can bounce back and have a full season where he reminds everyone why he's considered by many as the most complete full-back in the world. But he was suspended for a game after confronting an official after Chelsea fell to Aston Villa, then nearly got sent off against Tottenham before leaving the field for two really avoidable yellow cards against Newcastle. He'll miss the game against Brighton this weekend and that will be frustrating because when he plays, he is often the best on the field. Needs to work out how to stay on the field.

Mykhailo Mudryk

One of the biggest puzzles Mauricio Pochettino needs to solve is the Mudryk one, he plays so well for his country and it was incredibly unlucky that he did not win a penalty for Ukraine when they played against Italy at the last international break. But at Chelsea, it's been hit-and-miss. He's also had injury issues and there is a point to be made about a lack of consistent run in the team but he's mostly not done enough to stake a claim with the limited time he gets.

Mudryk arrived with a big price tag but it's Cole Palmer's form since joining that has got the Ukrainian looking at himself and demanding more. Palmer just didn't start games after arriving, he took the limited opportunities and made himself undroppable.

Enzo Fernandez

The Argentine settled at Benfica in his first month in Europe straight from South America to the extent that he quickly became a starter for the World Cup-winning Albiceleste. Unfortunately, it's just not been the same at Chelsea, there is no doubt he's got what it takes to be a star here for a long time but he's not arresting games, he's not scoring goals or creating goals and he's not preventing goals.

He really does need that run of games where he dictates everything and reminds everyone why he was the best young player at the World Cup a year ago and why many scouts tipped him to be the next big thing.

Moises Caicedo

The Ecuadorian midfielder was Brighton's best defensive midfielder in the league a few months ago. He was the foundation on which Roberto De Zerbi's success was built and he was also supposed to be the ideal replacement for N'Golo Kante.

He's been okay and was unlucky to have seen what would have been a goal-of-the-season contender dropped for a marginal offside. But we will all agree that he's not done what he was doing at Brighton in west London. Hunting the ball, winning it and breaking up opposition play, Pochettino needs to get him doing that regularly.

Nicolas Jackson

Seven goals in four months for a team under rebuilding largely should have been fine but this is Chelsea and the standards are incredible. His hold-up play has been impressive and he's pressing quite well. He needs to score more goals though and that is why he makes this list.