Arsenal's slip up at Sunderland has opened the door for Liverpool or Manchester City to cut the gap on Mikel Arteta's men but one rival club has been ruled out of the title race
Malo Gusto of Chelsea celebrates with teammate Joao Pedro after scoring his team's first goal
Chelsea moved up to second in the Premier League after beating Wolves 3-0
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Arsenal dropping points at Sunderland may have opened the door for their title rivals ahead of Liverpool's trip to Manchester City, but Shaka Hislop insists Chelsea are one club who won't be in the mix for the Premier League crown.
The Blues cantered to a 3-0 win over sorry Wolves on Saturday night to move up to second in the table ahead of both the reigning champions and City, who meet in a mouthwatering clash at The Etihad on Sunday. Arsenal are still ahead of the leading pack, though, with a seven point advantage over City, with Liverpool a point further back.
Chelsea's win means they are six points off Mikel Arteta's early pace-setters. But Hislop has already seen enough of Chelsea to rule them OUT of the running for the title.
When the former Newcastle and Portsmouth goalkeeper was asked if the Blues could win the Premier League on ESPN, Hislop replied: "No, no chance. Should I give you a percentage? 0.5%. They won’t win the league. If you offered me 1000/1 for Chelsea to win the league, I still wouldn’t take that bet right now."
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol then interjected, adding he would be 'surprised' if Chelsea were to win the league but that it was wrong to disregard them outright.
Shaka Hislop
Shaka Hislop is already adamant that the Blues will not challenge for the title this term
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Hislop, though, was having none of it and replied: "Yes you can [say Chelsea will never win the title this season]. You can."
Enzo Maresca feels his team are moving in the right direction after putting Wolves to the sword at Stamford Bridge courtesy of goals from Malo Gusto, Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto. However, the Italian admitted he was concerned about dispatching the Premier League's basement club ahead of the game.
"I was very worried before this game," he explained "These are the worst games, they're tricky. Everyone is thinking it's going to be easy.
"I can understand first half people were not happy because we didn't score. Then when [Willian] Estêvão came on the energy raised because people love that kind of player."
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