Following their 3-1 over Leicester City yesterday, Chelsea are on the verge of winning the Premier League title. If they win their home match on Sunday against Crystal Palace, they’ll be crowned Champions of England.
This would be the club’s fifth league title, and their first in five years. All but one of their league titles have come in the Roman Abramovich era, and of those, only one without Jose Mourinho.
Yet while plenty of fans from other clubs like to say that Chelsea has no history, the Blues have in fact won glory in the league without the benefit of Russian billionaires and press conference puppet masters.
This week, we look back at Chelsea’s pre-Abramovic title win—the 1954-55 Football League First Division.
Heading into their last home game of the season, Chelsea had a four point lead over second-place Wolverhampton Wanderers. If they won their match against Sheffield Wednesday, the title would be theirs regardless of how Wolves (who were away at Sheffield United) fared that day.
With the title on the line, Chelsea made it all look so easy. A brace from Eric Parsons and a converted penalty from Peter Sillett gave the home side a comfortable win over Sheffield Wednesday, and with the win, the Blues were declared Champions of England for the first time in their history.
It would be 50 years before they would claim another league title, but the intervening years weren’t entirely barren. Prior to Abramovich’s purchase of the club in 2003, Chelsea had won two second division titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups, one Community Shield, two UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups, and one UEFA Super Cup. So the interregnum offered glory to Chelsea fans, even as the big prize eluded them for so long.
If seeing Chelsea win league titles is your jam, their match against Crystal Palace kicks off at 8:30 am EST on NBC Sports Network.