Look at the Premier League standings and you will see something quite shocking: the reigning English champs reside in 15th place.

That's right, Chelsea, the team that dominated a season ago, is now struggling to put together wins. In fact, through seven games, Jose Mourinho's side has only secured two wins.

It has not been a pretty picture and the season is still too early to jump to any conclusions. Yet there are somethings not working this year that were behind the team's title run. Here they are.

Defense

A year ago, Chelsea conceded 32 goals overall. In just seven games this season, the team has allowed 14 goals. At the current rate of two goals per game, Chelsea would concede around 72 goals overall, one fewer than 20th place Queens Park Rangers allowed in 2014-15.

We all know that Chelsea will not allow two goals per game forever and that at some point the team will find improvements somewhere. Considering the current play of the club, it is hard to imagine that in its remaining 31 games Chelsea will only concede 18 goals the rest of the way.

Chelsea is currently conceding 13.9 shots per game, good for eighth highest in the league. Compare that to current top side Manchester United which has conceded only 8.9 shots per game.

The more shots you concede, the more chances of allowing a goal. Defense is what wins Championships they say and Chelsea's has been porous.

The Decline of Cesc Fabregas

A year ago he was a star. In 2015-16 he is the ultimate dud. Everything about his play has dropped off this season. His key passes per game are down to 1.9 from 2.8; his passing success rate is down two percentage points from 85 percent to 83; he has less tackles per game and more fouls; he had 18 assists a year ago and is currently on pace for five.

Fabregas was the creative motor and stabilizing point of Chelsea's midfield. This season is looks lost, struggles to find space and is a liability in the middle of the pitch.

No Offense

A year ago Chelsea had 73 goals; this season the team is on pace for 59; however if you combine the team's pace for goals against with goals for, then Chelsea would have a differential of -13; only teams below 13th did that poorly a year ago.

A lot of it has to do with Chelsea not creating and surely not finishing. The team is 15th in the league in shots per game at 16.4; it is scoring on just 9.5 percent of its chances. A year ago the team averaged 14.8 shots per game (good for third in the league and with a finishing rate of over 12.9 percent. Eventually regression will hit every team but Chelsea's offense is not necessarily bailing the team out.

What is worse is that the main stars are struggling.

Through seven games, Eden Hazard has not scored a single goal. He scored 14 last year and was averaging over two shots per game; he is at 1.6 shots per game this season. His dribbles per game, his biggest offensive asset are also down as well.

Diego Costa, he of the 20 goals last season, has just one and is going to miss a few more games for his rash behavior; he is on pace to score five or six goals on the year. He will likely crack over 10, but 20 looks like an elusive wish.

Hazard likewise should get more goals, but maybe 10 will be tough for him.

So if the team's top two scorers are not contributing then who will? No player on the team has more than one goal in the entire league season seven games in. Radamel Falcao, the man brought in to score goals, has just one and has done little to indicate that he is back in fine form. He has featured in just 102 minutes and has averaged just 1.2 shots per game in that stretch, a rather dismal average.

Loic Remy, the other forward, has yet to score in 69 minutes of play either.

Regression will hit and Chelsea will improve. The team is simply too good to stay this bad. However, will better be enough? Now eight points behind first place, the team has a lot of ground to make up. In the last five years, the champion has needed an average of 86 points to win it all; Chelsea needs around 78 points in its remaining 31 games. To do that the team needs at least 26 wins to avoid getting draws to help its cause; then it has room to lose a few more. But is Chelsea really only going to lose five more after dropping three of its first seven? That is a tall order and will be a story to watch as the season unfolds.