Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has revealed his belief that Chelsea are Premier League title contenders this term.
Frank Lampard led the Blues to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League last term. Considering they had lost Eden Hazard, who had been influential in all of their recent successes, that’s the best that could have been expected from the club legend.
That’s especially when you consider that the club were unable to sign any replacement, with a transfer ban in force. They made up for it this summer, though, acquiring Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell and Edouard Mendy.
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As a result of their summer expenditure, Merson appears to be under the belief that Chelsea can go all the way in the Premier League and lift the title come May. He wrote in his Sky Sports column:
“If we are going to talk about Tottenham winning the title, then Chelsea are right in the mix. If Spurs can win it, then for sure, Chelsea can win it.”
“Frank Lampard has now got who he wants in key positions and you can really see the difference.”
“Thiago Silva is world-class. They’ve got two full-backs who are as good as any in the league and for me, they [Reece James and Ben Chilwell] are the two England full-backs, in my opinion. They are outstanding. Silva is also only going to make Kurt Zouma a better player and the goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is solid.”
While there are tougher tests ahead for Chelsea than Sheffield United, they were absolutely phenomenal at the weekend. They responded in emphatic fashion to going a goal down, picking apart the relegation battlers piece-by-piece.
It would have given Lampard and the Chelsea faithful plenty of encouragement, but whether they are ready to compete for the title this season or not remains to be seen.