Chelsea icon Gianfranco Zola has echoed the sentiment of many supporters, as he shared his belief that the punishment handed to Manchester City by FIFA was unfair on the Blues.
Frank Lampard was unable to sign new players upon his arrival from Derby County and the situation will be the same in January, as Chelsea were issued with a two window transfer ban.
However, despite admitting to similar infringements regarding the signing of players under the age of 16, the Premier League champions were only issued with a small fine by world football's governing body.
That decision did not go down well with Chelsea fans and Zola has echoed their views, as he believes the differences in verdict on the two sides it's not fair.
"Considering the other sentence with Manchester City, I think definitely yes, they have been treated unfairly,” he told BeIN Sports.
Zola, who was assistant manager to Maurizio Sarri at Stamford Bridge last season, also called for the Chelsea hierarchy to give Lampard time at the club, as he believes the squad is in a transitional periood.
"We all want Frank to succeed. In order to succeed, it will be very important to give the right expectation to this team," he added.
"This is a team that needs patience, they have a lot of young players and it is a transition.
"As young players, they will need time to make mistakes and learn from them.
"The big problem is expecting Chelsea to be straight away competitive with the big boys, which is extremely unlikely to happen.
"I really hope it is the case but there are teams that are ahead.
"I hope they will finish top four. It depends how the players grow up, the kinds of Pulisic and Mason Mount, to adapt to the league and do the best they can.
"If they do it quickly, they may be competitive this year.
"Otherwise, it might be a process that it’s going to be better next year."
