Enzo Maresca celebrating after Chelsea's win at Tottenham
Enzo Maresca celebrating after Chelsea's win at Tottenham
Jamie Carragher still has concerns about Chelsea's goalkeeper and centre-backs despite the Blues closing the gap to league leaders Liverpool.
Enzo Maresca's side came from 2-0 down to win 4-3 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Cole Palmer scored twice from the penalty spot, with Jadon Sancho and Enzo Fernandez also on target.
No team has scored more than Chelsea in the Premier League this season, with the four goals in North London taking them up to 35 for the campaign. They have conceded 18 in just 15 matches, though, and no Premier League team has won the competition while conceding more than a goal a game on average since Manchester United in 2012-13.
Robert Sanchez returned to the starting XI after sitting out the midweek win at Southampton, with the Spanish goalkeeper playing behind Benoit Badiashile and Levi Colwill. Chelsea still had enough for victory, but Carragher remained unconvinced.
"I still look at the goalkeeper and two centre backs, Badiashile who played today, and I just think I can't see someone winning the Premier League with that goalkeeper and without a real standout centre back," Carragher told Sky Sports. "I think you'd say City winning it with Ederson and [Ruben] Dias, Liverpool with [Virgil] van Dijk and Alisson, going back to Petr Cech and John Terry. those figures, you think, that you need to win a title, I still think Chelsea are a little bit short in those areas."
Chelsea were even leakier at the back last season under Mauricio Pochettino, conceding 63 times while finishing in sixth place. They made a number of summer signings, with Tosin getting minutes at centre-back and goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen making his Premier League debut at St Mary's.
Maresca's side have just three league clean sheets to their name, with one of those relying on a Sanchez penalty save at Bournemouth. However, they have a chance to improve that record with their next seven matches coming against teams outside the top six.
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Cole Palmer scored twice in Chelsea's win ( Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
Maresca recognised Chelsea's slow start made their task tougher. Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski fired Spurs into a two-goal lead inside the opening 15 minutes, only for the visitors to bounce back.
"We had some problems because of the goals we conceded," the Italian told Match of the Day. "The other problems in the first half were due to the build-up. We didn't concede many chances in the second half."
"We used to change players game by game but today the players were all very good. Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho were great on and off the ball."
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