Chelsea in the Championship? What are the chances of an unfathomable Blues relegation?

On one hand, I don't blame you. The chances of Chelsea actually facing relegation are nanoscopic. But then again, the following 600 words are full of stone-cold facts - and none of them bear any good news for the Blues.

Chelsea fell to a 2-1 defeat against Brighton at the weekend in front of 40,000 infuriated supporters.

Despite splashing over £530million on players this season, the Stamford Bridge outfit are languishing in the middle of the table and are nowhere near European contention.

In fact, the only positive from the Brighton result was Conor Gallagher's goal which ended Chelsea's near 400-minute dry spell.

Frank Lampard's men are currently 11th in the table and find themselves five points closer to the bottom three than the Champions League places.

The Blues have been so poor, in fact, many have taken to social media in order to joke about their potential relegation. Question is, could these jokes eventually turn into something more sinister?

Chelsea are in relegation form - and it's not just a short blip.

The Blues have picked up just 18 points from their last 20 games in the Premier League - the fourth-worst points haul during this run.

Only Everton (17), Leicester (17) and Southampton (12) have done worse, though at least they didn't splash half a billion on transfers this season.

To make matters worse, Chelsea boast the joint-worst attack in the competition during that same period of time.

Lampard's men have found the back of the net just 14 times in their last 20 league outings - a number only matched by Southampton.

If you didn't like reading that, Chelsea fans, don't bother scrolling down.

Chelsea's remaining seven games appear to have come straight from the Premier League's abyss.

Lampard's men will take on every team currently residing in the top four, with three of those games taking place away from home.

The Blues will visit Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, before ending the season at home against Newcastle.

In between those fixtures, Chelsea will have to overcome an in-form Brentford side, as well as two teams who are desperately battling for Premier League survival - Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.

Based on their current form, how many points can the Blues realistically hope to win from their remaining seven games? Something tells me Chelsea fans would rather avoid the answer to that question.

Chelsea's remaining fixtures: Manchester United (A), Brentford (H), Arsenal (A), Bournemouth (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Manchester City (A) and Newcastle (H).

Generally speaking, once a club crosses the 40-point mark in the Premier League, they can begin to make plans for another season in the elite.

In fact, the last team who suffered relegation despite surpassing that total was West Ham back in 2002/03. On that occasion, the Irons amassed 42 points, yet still dropped into the second-tier.

As things stand, Chelsea have 39 points to their name. No team has been relegated with that total since Birmingham in 2010/11.

Thankfully for the Blues, they still have seven games remaining to sort themselves out - even if the fixture list doesn't make for pretty reading.

The fight to avoid relegation this season is arguably as thrilling as the race for the title.

Every weekend, the order of the bottom nine teams continues to change as clubs fight to retain their top tier status.

With so many contenders for the bottom three, it's no surprise to see Chelsea priced at 250/1 for the drop.

However, if the Blues are unable to shake off their rotten run of results, it may be worth keeping a closer eye on those numbers.

While the threat of relegation may be nothing more than fantasy at this moment, the fact is that Chelsea are just seven poor results away from potential disaster.