For the two seasons now Chelsea's game has been an unpredictable one, Chelsea are very unstable that sometimes they play very impressive and after sometime their performance becomes so bad for a longtime. Before now early in the season Chelsea's performance was very impressive that I thought it wll be a performance that will last for a while but after a shot time they couldn't continue with their impressive performance. I'm not sure if Chelsea can be so consistent with good performance this season because from the way they are playing their is no motivation for them to go after more points.
I think this season Chelsea's hopes of achieving a higher ranking in the Premier League (1-5) are very slim. The reason is that in the middle of this season Chelsea did not appear impressive. So for now Pochettino's team must be able to stay in the ranking they currently occupy. The reason is, Chelsea's situation is currently in a suspended situation. The point is that reaching the top ranking will definitely be difficult, therefore Chelsea's current struggle is only to avoid the relegation zone from the first division.
To be honest, I also don't understand why Chelsea is currently performing poorly. The reason is, as you said, that not only this season, Chelsea has experienced a decline in performance. However, last season Chelsea also experienced poor performance. The reason is, last season Chelsea only managed to finish in 12th place in the Premier League. So, if this season Chelsea does not improve its bad performance, it is very likely that this season Chelsea will end like last season.
But if I look at the current situation of Chelsea's players, the point is there must be a big rotation in various lines. Because from what I see, the current Chelsea players really need to be replaced a lot. Because if the current players are still retained, I don't think Chelsea will experience any further development in the future.
Chelsea playing with Manchester City in the next match, I think it won't be easy for Chelsea because Manchester City is known to be a club that can easily win teams that are not performing well. From the performance of Chelsea I doubt if they will be able to resist the strength of Manchester City thst is looking for more points to be ahead of Liverpool and arsenal.
If you look at Chelsea's current situation, it is clear that Manchester City will easily win the match. Because we can see the benchmark when Chelsea faced Liverpool some time ago. In that match, Chelsea was defeated by Liverpool with a score of 4-1. So this week Chelsea will face Manchester City, I think the result will not be much different from when Chelsea played Liverpool. Because, considering that currently the performance of Manchester City and Liverpool is almost equal.