There is a risk, in reporting on the abject fall from grace of reigning champions Chelsea, that one goes and uses all the available negative superlatives in one go.

If we thought home defeat to Bournemouth was a nadir for Jose Mourinho's side, then we weren't bargaining on what was to happen at the King Power Stadium just over a week later.

Chelsea met a side in far better spirits than they, battling to, and eventually succeeding in going top of the league.

But what they offered in return, was perhaps their worst hour of football since this calamitous season began.

From the nervous flapping of Thibaut Courtois, through the Keystone Cops defending of the back four; via a midfield commanded by a Nemanja Matic who looked like the waxwork version of the one who played against Porto; and finally to the positionally weak and seemingly commitment phobic Diego Costa – this was bad. Very bad.

Chelsea relinquished the ball with abandon – at one stage it looked as if Ramires, called in for the much derided Cesc Fabregas, looked like he must be working for the Foxes Christmas charity campaign, so generous was he in giving stuff away.

'Ponderous' and 'predictable' were two of the words which kept cropping up.

By contrast Leicester attacked the game, and their opponents, with boundless energy.

Worrying times: Chelsea players look concerned

There had been a couple of scares at the back for Blues when Riyad Mahrez, in a man of the match performance, placed a perfectly weighted pass through the melting centre half pairing of John Terry and Kurt Zouma to find Jamie Vardy.

Terry managed to both play the league's most consistent goalscorer onside, and then lose him for pace, as Vardy buried past Courtois.

Just after the break, the whole team was caught napping as Mahrez himself picked up a long pass out wide, danced to and fro as if to taunt Cesar Azpilicueta, then produced a magical finish to deservedly give Foxes a two goal lead.

Earlier, Eden Hazard had taken himself out of the game after an industrial challenge from Vardy – any impact in which resulted from his tumble rather than the initial coming together.

His attempt to rejoin proceedings, and then to wave the whole game away and walk-off, characterised the match for many.

We won't know the severity of any injury for hours or days, but the incident added fuel to the prevalent fans' feeling of a lack of commitment throughout the side.

Chelsea's loss to Leicester in pictures:

This was further reinforced when only Courtois, Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic out of the whole squad made the short journey to the away end to offer thanks for vocal support on a Monday night in the midlands.

Chelsea were changed by the two switches of Jose Mourinho on 53 and 65 minutes – Fabregas for Terry and Loic Remy for Oscar.

This improved the whole set-up, going three at the back, and finally taking the game to a by now tiring Leicester.

It was a strategy that could not have worked from the very start, but reaped rewards – Fabregas several times finding that missing connecting pass, and Remy floating into positions in the box which ultimately reaped the reward of a goal.

Leicester dropped every man back for the last, but their earlier creative and competent hard work paid off – delivering a deserved win, to the clear delight of boss Claudio Ranieri.

For Chelsea's part, this was the worst we have yet seen this season. But who can know if there may still be even greater negatives to follow.

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