Chelsea's first season under Frank Lampard has gone well, with the Blues pushing to secure another season of Champions League football, but there has been a recent dip in results.
With Manchester United, Tottenham and Wolves among the chasing pack, there is little room for a slip in the final months of the campaign and improvements are needed.
However, while the rest of the Premier League frantically concluded deals in the mid-season window, Chelsea did not secure any new additions and questions have been asked as a result.
But, what would have happened if the rest of the league also hadn't done any business in the January transfer window?
We used Football Manager 2020 to predict the rest of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign, without any January transfers.
Chelsea's 2019/20 season predicted if no winter transfers
To set up this simulation, the guys at Football Manager sent us a save game with the updated real-life results and fixtures for the 2019/20 season, up until February 6, to make the simulation as realistic as possible.
But, there was no January transfer window, as the game began in February, so there were no transfers in or out of any Premier League club.
We then ran the simulation to see how the season would play out for Chelsea in 2019/20.
This is what happened.
Chelsea results
Chelsea's inconsistencies continued into the final 13 matches of the Premier League campaign, as victories over Tottenham and a draw with Manchester City came alongside defeats to Aston Villa, Liverpool and Wolves.
All in all, the Blues won six of their final 13 fixtures, drew four and lost three - with two of those defeats coming in consecutive matchweeks at the end of the campaign.
In the Champions League, the wobbles continued as Chelsea lost the first leg of their Round of 16 tie with Lille before fighting back in the second leg and also lost to Real Madrid away from home.
In both those ties, Chelsea managed to push through on aggregate but that was not the case in the semi-finals as Atletico Madrid advanced on away goals following a 1-0 win in the second leg.
Chelsea best XI
Just like in real life, with no new strikers, Tammy Abraham was the leading man for Frank Lampard's side and unsurprisingly slots in to lead the line in the best XI, ahead of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mason Mount and Willian.
A midfielder of N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic provides cover for a defensive line consisting of Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christiansen, Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta.
Behind them, despite his recent struggles in real life, is Kepa Arrizabalaga - who was dropped for the Blues' recent 2-2 draw with Leicester City and faces a fight to reclaim his spot from Willy Caballero.
Final Premier League table
At the end of the season, Chelsea managed to seal a top-four finish despite losing their last two Premier League matches of the campaign as they finished two points ahead of Tottenham - with Arsenal seven points adrift of the Blues and Manchester United nine behind.
That means another year of Champions League football for Chelsea - and it leaves Tottenham and Manchester United going without, as Arsenal won the Europa League at the third time of asking.
Unsurprisingly, Liverpool finished top of the pile with an incredible tally of 106 points but Jurgen Klopp's side are being tipped to lose two of their remaining matches by Football Manager.
Meanwhile, the bottom of the pile sees Aston Villa, Watford and Norwich suffer relegation, with West Ham, Burnley and Brighton living to fight another day.
So with no January transfer window, Football Manager 2020 predicts that Chelsea would secure a top four finish despite an inconsistent end to the campaign. We'll have to wait and see how the Blues do, now that their opponents have strengthened...
