Chelsea: Is This Squad Capable of Winning the League Title?

Chelsea endured another unsatisfying result today, this time at the hands of Premiership strugglers Wigan. Jordi Gomez's 87th-minute strike ended a three-game winning streak for Andre Villas-Boas' side, but has it also ended their hopes of a league title?

Manchester United plays QPR tomorrow, and a Red Devils win is likely. Manchester City have the tougher prospect of facing an Arsenal team containing the lethal Robin Van Persie.

After the weekend's games are complete, Chelsea could be looking at a nine-point gap to City and an eight-point deficit to United.

High-flying Tottenham also could be in the mix. With two games in hand over Chelsea and only one point behind, the north Londoners could prove a real threat to the other title contenders.

Roman Abramovic hoped that by bringing in Villas-Boas, Jose Mourinho's former deputy, the magic of the special one's time at the club could be recaptured. Villas-Boas is dealing with a very different squad however.

Didier Drogba is not the player he once was, and against Wigan this was painfully obvious. The Drogba of a couple of years ago could've scored two or three, but at the DW stadium tonight he failed to deliver.

Despite insisting that Fernando Torres is not for sale, Villas-Boas didn't trust the Spaniard to trouble Wigan's centre back pairing of Gary Caldwell and Ronnie Stam.

With Drogba and Torres misfiring, Villas-Boas needs to find some way to recapture their greatness or look for replacements in January.

On the bright side, Daniel Sturridge once again looked dangerous, scoring a well-placed finish after a brilliant first touch.

The manager's decisions also have to be put under the spotlight. In a game against Wigan, Chelsea should be gunning for the win. Instead, Villas-Boas sought to protect a single-goal lead. By bringing on John Obi Mikel in place of Juan Mata, Villas-Boas clearly looked to kill off the game.

With ten minutes remaining, Villas-Boas looked to pack the midfield by replacing the dangerous Daniel Sturridge with Florent Malouda.

Villas-Boas has struggled at points to handle his stars. Earlier this week, Frank Lampard went public with his frustrations after being left out of the starting lineup without explanation. Such things should not be being aired in public.

Chelsea enter the Christmas period with four winnable games between now and the second of January. The toughest of these is the first, when the Lions travel to White Hart Lane to take on high-flying Spurs.

This is a must-win game for Chelsea. A loss in this match and Villas-Boas' position as manager will start to look seriously in danger.

The following games are Fulham and Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, then a trip to Wolves. These three games in eight days should yield nine points for Chelsea—a championship-winning side should expect nothing less.

The fact is that these games no longer look like easy three-pointers for Chelsea as they used to. Villas-Boas needs to create a team that wins such games handily, otherwise it may be some time before they taste league glory again.

Who can Chelsea bring in to strengthen their squad? Does Villas-Boas need to be replaced? Comment below.