Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has highlighted problems in Chelsea‘s midfield as the reason behind their poor start to the new season.
The Blues crashed to their third defeat of the campaign against Everton at the weekend as a hat-trick from Steven Naismith punished Jose Mourinho’s side for yet another below-par performance.
The 3-1 loss at Goodison Park came after their shock defeat at home to London rivals Crystal Palace before the international break and the defending Barclays Premier League champions find themselves 11 points behind title rivals Manchester City after just five games.
Neville analysed the game from Saturday lunchtime on Monday Night Football and pinpointed the likes of Nemanja Matic, who scored a wonderful goal against the Toffees, in particular for drifting away from the high standards he set last season as he failed to make a tackle in the build up to the home side’s second goal:
“There’s no way in my mind that Nemanja Matic would ever allow anyone out of that space last season,” the former Manchester United defender said.
“He would have been aggressive and made the tackle.”
“This Chelsea back four, that we knew if they were exposed could potentially have problems, are now having problems,” Neville stressed.
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Chelsea will be hoping to get back to winning ways in their UEFA Champions League opener against Isreali outfit Maccabi Tel Aviv at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.