Jamie Carragher ‘flabbergasted’ by Chelsea and makes bold Premier League title claim

Jamie Carragher believes Chelsea are still short of quality despite their big spending durig the summer transfer window.

Chelsea continued their wild spending during the summer, taking their Todd Boehly total above £1billion within the space of just 18 months. Injuries haven’t helped, but so far, that spending has not translated to results, with Mauricio Pochettino only able to extract two Premier League wins from his side’s first seven games.

The second of those wins came on Monday night, with Chelsea defeating local rivals Fulham thanks to goals from Mykhaylo Mudryk and Armando Broja.

Ahead of that game, Carragher discussed Chelsea’s recent woes on Sky Sports, saying: “You very rarely get your best XI on the pitch and they have suffered from injuries.

“That is a team that is, at best, fighting for the top four. If you’re telling me that is Chelsea’s best team after they’ve spent £1bn... that team would still need at least four top players if they had any chance of catching Manchester City.

“The goalkeeper is not good enough, the centre-forward is not good enough, they need a centre-back and probably another midfield player. To think Chelsea have spent over £1bn and they still feel like they’re half a team away from competing for the Premier League title is flabbergasting.”

Missed chances have been a big part of Chelsea’s form so far, but Blues fans shouldn’t take too much comfort in the statistics, according to Carragher, who added: “You could say Chelsea have been unlucky in a lot of their games but if I was a Chelsea fan, I wouldn’t get too carried away saying that, because of the underlying numbers, this eventually will sort itself out.

“The numbers should be like that because of the opposition they’re playing against. Yes, Liverpool’s a tough game, but against everyone else they’ve come up against they should have higher possession, they should have more chances and shots, they should be better defensively because they are a lot stronger than the other teams.

“Let’s not forget, this is a team that’s spent £1bn. It should have quality. Those numbers should be there. That is not a big indicator of where Chelsea are going to go in the next few months because the fixtures get a lot tougher now.”