Is Chelsea's title challenge over?

Jose Mourinho claimed Chelsea’s Premier League title challenge was over after his side’s shock 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace. Mourinho’s men shot themselves in the foot as a second-half own goal from Captain John Terry condemned the Blues to their fifth league defeat of the season. This was from the latest game of Chelsea but to lose the hope of title requires accumulation of losses over the year. We try to identify where things went wrong for the blues in this article.
Mourinho knows it—as he was caught out saying and, in their heart of hearts, most Chelsea fans know it. The strikers are sub-standard. Samuel Eto’o has occasionally looked good, scoring some important goals against big clubs. But the reasons behind his late-August acquisition by the Blues boss are now abundantly clear. If the amount of playing time given to Demba Ba is anything to go by, then one can only conclude Mourinho doesn’t rate the Senegalese forward. And then there is Fernando Torres. He has seldom impressed since his move to Chelsea, but his performances in recent defeats at Aston Villa and Crystal Palace have been beyond abject. A new No. 9 is at the very top of the list of summer purchases for Chelsea.
Another reason why the blues had to end their dream run is because the inability of old men in the team to put their experience to use. For some of Chelsea’s senior players, this has looked like a season too many. Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole have largely failed to justify their place in a squad at the top end of the Premier League. John Terry has had a far better season, but he has still been found out for his lack of pace a number of times. One would expect at least two of those three to be off in the summer, possibly with fellow old hand Petr Cech facing competition for his place from bright young thing Thibaut Courtois. To be real title contenders, Chelsea need to be much younger at heart.
The signs were there right at the start of the season—away to Manchester United. We now know that David Moyes’ side were there for the taking, but Chelsea just didn’t take them. A dour 0-0 draw later, and Chelsea had dropped their first points of the season. When West Ham came to Stamford Bridge—one of only two games in which Chelsea faltered at home—it was a similar story of missed opportunities. And away to West Brom was another game the Blues should have steamrolled through before they were pegged back. More clinical strikers, who take the chances they are given, are a part of this. But the whole team needs to work better as a unit.
"Now we have lost our chance of finishing first. Now we depend too much on other results," said Mourinho, whose side will surrender first place to Manchester City if Manuel Pellegrini’s team win at Arsenal in Saturday’s late fixture.
City will still have two games in hand on Chelsea after this weekend and Mourinho admitted the Blues had only themselves to blame for their predicament following a lack luster display against relegation-threatened Palace.