Haha the Essien thing was back in 2007, when it looked like we were finally winning the league, and he came out saying that Chelsea would still win because he did the calculations. It's been a bit of a classic caf meme for the old timers on here ever since.
Also, just to add to my last post, this is predominantly a squad comprised of players who Jose either didn't want or rate highly, or who he saw as squad players. There have only been four (if we count Cavani) genuine first teamers signed since Ole came in, and three of those were in his first season (one of whom wasn't signed until the January deadline day of that season). To have gotten us to where we are with essentially the Jose rejects squad, is very good going. What now needs to happen is proper first team quality coming in and filling in the four (three while Cavani is here) big gaps we have in the squad: RW, DM, CB and CF.
With the useless board we have, I think we'll get a maximum of two of those slots filled per summer, by which point I wouldn't be surprised to see Pogba leaving which would mean yet another big purchase being needed. In essence, the yank bastards have us exactly where they want us. Established top 4 and they can now sit back on their laurels for 4-5 years and milk the club for as long as they want.