Jamie Carragher has made his Premier League title prediction
Jamie Carragher has made an emphatic Premier League title prediction and doesn’t think Chelsea will last the pace.
The Blues, despite what manager Enzo Maresca claims, are bang in the mix following a superb run of form that has brought them to within two points of current leaders Liverpool.
After two seasons in the doldrums, the Blues are showing signs of rapid improvement under their Italian manager who joined in the summer from Leicester City.
Sunday’s 2-1 win over Brentford represented a seventh successive win in all competitions and confidence is sky high.
Despite all of the encouraging signs, Carragher cannot envisage Chelsea ending the season as champions owing largely to a questionable goalkeeper and the defence as a whole.
‘They are in a title challenge. There is no doubt about that. I don’t personally think Chelsea will win the league this season,’ Carragher told Sky Sports.
‘I just think at centre-back and goalkeeper Arsenal and Liverpool are still stronger in that area.
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Chelsea FC v Brentford FC - Premier League
Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson scored Chelsea’s goals against Brentford
‘I think you definitely need a really top goalkeeper and two centre-backs if you are to win a league title. I might be proven wrong, I hope I’m not.
‘I think the one thing in their favour is they’ve got a much less busy schedule.
‘He changes the whole team for European games because of the competition they’re in.
‘Arsenal and Liverpool don’t have that luxury when they’re qualifying for the Champions League in the second half of the season.’
Chelsea, meanwhile, will have to contend without Mykhailo Mudryk for the foreseeable future after they were notified by the Football Association of an ‘adverse finding’ in a urine sample.
The west London club issued a statement on Tuesday morning confirming the governing body had contacted them regarding the finding.
‘Chelsea Football Club can confirm that the Football Association recently contacted our player Mykhailo Mudryk concerning an adverse finding in a routine urine test,’ a club statement read.
‘Both the club and Mykhailo fully support the FA’s testing programme and all our players, including Mykhailo, are regularly tested.’
‘Mykhailo has confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned substances. Both Mykhailo and the Club will now work with the relevant authorities to establish what has caused the adverse finding.’
Mudryk issued a statement via his Instagram account.
‘I can confirm that I have been notified that a sample I provided to the FA contained a banned substance,’ it began.
‘This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and am working closely with my team to investigate how this could have happened.
‘I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon. I cannot say any more now due to the confidentiality of the process, but I will as soon as I can.’
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