| Manager: | Ruud Gullit (until 12 February) Gianluca Vialli (from 12 February) |
| Cup2 Result: | Winners |
| Cup4 Result: | Winners |
| League Topscorer: | Vialli/Flo (11) |
| Season Topscorer: | Vialli (19) |
| Highest Attendance: | 34,845 (vs. Bolton Wanderers, 10 May) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 29,075 (vs. Blackpool, 19 Apr) |
| Average Attendance: | 32,901 |
| Pattern B1: | _chelsea1997h |
| Pattern La1: | _chelsea1997h |
| Pattern Ra1: | _chelsea1997h |
| Pattern Sh1: | _chelsea9899h |
| Leftarm1: | 0000FF |
| Body1: | 0000FF |
| Rightarm1: | 0000FF |
| Shorts1: | 0000FF |
| Socks1: | FFFFFF |
| Pattern B2: | _chelsea1996a |
| Pattern Ra2: | _chelsea1996a |
| Pattern La2: | _chelsea1996a |
| Leftarm2: | FFDD00 |
| Body2: | FFDD00 |
| Rightarm2: | FFDD00 |
| Shorts2: | FFDD00 |
| Socks2: | FFDD00 |
| Nextseason: | 1998–99 |
The 1997–98 season was Chelsea F.C.'s 84th competitive season, their 9th consecutive season in the English top flight and 92nd year as a club.
With conceding goals being a major issue last season, Chelsea signed Dutch international goalkeeper Ed de Goey, who proved to be a relative success. Chelsea's only other major signings were young Norwegian striker Tore Andre Flo and Uruguayan international midfielder Gustavo Poyet from Real Zaragoza, who added more goals from an otherwise very defensive midfield. Chelsea were well on course for a top-five finish and success in the European Cup Winners' Cup and the Coca-Cola Cup when manager Ruud Gullit was sacked on 12 February following a dispute with chairman Ken Bates. His job went to 33-year-old striker Gianluca Vialli, who took on the role of player-manager and achieved instant success - within three months of his appointment, Vialli had guided the Blues to glory on the continent and at Wembley. This success gave Chelsea fans hope that the following season could spell the end of their title wait which began in 1955.
See main article: 1997–98 FA Premier League.
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 October 1997 | 3 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 1–1 | 18,671 | Di Matteo | |
| After extra time, Chelsea won on 4–1 on penalties | |||||||
| 19 November 1997 | 4 | Southampton | H | 2–1 | 20,968 | Morris, Flo | |
| 7 January 1998 | QF | Ipswich Town | A | 2–2 | 22,088 | Le Saux, Flo | |
| After extra time, Chelsea won on 4–1 on penalties | |||||||
| 28 January 1998 | SF | Arsenal | A | 1–2 | 38,144 | Hughes | |
| 18 February 1998 | SF | Arsenal | H | 3–1 | 34,330 | Petrescu, Di Matteo, Hughes | |
| 29 March 1998 | F | Middlesbrough | N | 2–0 | 77,698 | Sinclair, Di Matteo |
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1997 | 1 |  Slovan Bratislava | H | 2–0 | 23,067 | Danny Granville, Di Matteo | |
| 2 October 1997 | 1 | Slovan Bratislava | A | 2–0 | 13,850 | Di Matteo, Vialli | |
| 23 October 1997 | 2 |  Tromsø | A | 2–3 | 6,438 | Vialli (2) | |
| 6 November 1997 | 2 | Tromsø | H | 7–1 | 29,363 | Leboeuf, Petrescu (2), Vialli (3), Zola | |
| 5 March 1998 | QF |  Real Betis | A | 2–1 | 31,000 | Flo (2) | |
| 19 March 1998 | QF | Real Betis | H | 3–1 | 32,300 | Sinclair, Di Matteo, Zola | |
| 2 April 1998 | SF |  Vicenza | A | 0–1 | 19,319 | ||
| 16 April 1998 | SF | Vicenza | H | 3–1 | 33,810 | Poyet, Zola, Hughes | |
| 13 May 1998 | F | VfB Stuttgart | N | 1–0 | 30,216 | Zola |
Squad at end of season[1]
|}Statistics taken from http://www.soccerbase.com/squad_season.sd?teamid=536 . Squad details and shirt numbers from https://web.archive.org/web/20130505052001/http://cfchistory.co.uk/ and https://web.archive.org/web/20091027001136/http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/8882/players.html.