Chelsea are a "much more talented team" than London rivals Tottenham according to Craig Burley and has tipped the Blues to challenge for the Premier League.
The Blues went top of the table on Saturday lunchtime following a win at Newcastle.
But they were quickly usurped by Tottenham who beat Manchester City to underline their credentials.
It means Jose Mourinho's side are now two points ahead of Chelsea following an impressive start to the campaign.
But Burley has cited the experience and overall quality throughout the spine of the Blues squad as a points of difference between the two.
He told ESPN : "Oh yeah. I think Chelsea are a much more talented team than Spurs. Tottenham have a good squad but Chelsea have an unbelievable amount of attacking players.
"They got great experience in with the signing of Thiago Silva, they’ve got a natural left-back in Ben Chilwell. The rise of Reece James has been meteoric - he’s taking his game to a new level.
"They’ve strengthened their goalkeeper situation and Frank [Lampard] has mentioned that N’Golo Kante is looking like the player he was a couple of years ago.
"I just think Chelsea have better options [than Tottenham]. They’re in as good shape as they can be to mount a title challenge."
The two sides, who have both lost just once this term, will square off next weekend at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard guided Chelsea to a domestic double over Tottenham last term.
Both he and Mourinho have since strengthened their hands though and look good value for a tilt at the title in what is an unprecedented season.
But after Tottenham's win over City their Portuguese coach was quick to talk them down as title contenders.
He said: "People cannot expect us to come here and after one season we are fighting for the title.
"We are not fighting for the title, we are just fighting to win every match. But we are going to lose matches, we are going to draw matches."
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