Chelsea have been billed as possible Premier League title challengers by some this season but Gary Neville is adamant that Enzo Maresca's man are nowhere near good enough to do so
Gary Neville on Sky Sports
Gary Neville doesn't see Chelsea challenging for the title this season
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Gary Neville says Chelsea will not bother the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City in the title race this season, claiming the Blues 'don't have a chance' of landing the Premier League trophy.
The Blues and Arsenal clashed at the weekend in a top of the table clash which ended 1-1 after Moises Caicedo was sent off for Enzo Maresca's men. Their performance in a fiery London derby, coupled with their strong start to the 2025-26 campaign, had fuelled further talk that Chelsea could be genuine title contenders this term.
However, Chelsea looked well off the pace away at struggling Leeds on Wednesday night. Daniel Farke's side put them to the sword in a 3-1 victory - and Neville is now adamant that the Blues will be nowhere near the title conversation.
“I don’t think they can win the title. In fact, I don’t think they’ve got a chance,” Neville said on Sky Sports after watching the Blues get battered by Leeds.
He went on to question their defence and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, who has been questioned in the past following some less than convincing displays. “Chelsea do have some gaping holes when you see title-winning teams,” Neville continued. “They will be in the top four or five, no problem, but when you talk about winning the league, they are short in goal, short at centre back and short up top.
Chelsea players look dejected after Leeds United make it 2-0 at Elland Road
Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by struggling Leeds on Wednesday night(Image: (Daniel Chesterton/Offside/Offside via Getty Images))
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“Their centre forwards, centre backs and goalkeepers aren’t good enough to be title winners. Chelsea’s team is well built, it’s got an incredible amount of talent, but the centre-backs tonight were poor in every way.
“The goalkeeper [Robert Sanchez] is not good enough to be a title-winning goalkeeper, and then at centre-forward, they [Delap, Guiu] are good players, but they’re not at the levels that are required to win Chelsea a title.”
Stamford Bridge favourite John Terry also singled out Chelsea's defence in his analysis of the game and predicted Maresca could react by making big changes. Speaking on social media, he fumed: “Goal from a set piece, individual mistakes defensively, clearly not good enough.
“Maybe that’s an opportunity for the manager to look at the squad and go, ‘Okay rotations not for me moving forward, I know my best starting 13-14 players and I’ll stick with that and the players are just going to have to deal with it'.”
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