Gary Neville believes Chelsea “don’t have a chance” of winning the Premier League this season after their defeat by Leeds, citing “gaping holes” in the squad.
The Blues produced their worst performance of the season at Elland Road, as goals from Jaka Bijol, Ao Tanaka, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin hoisted Daniel Farke’s side out of the relegation zone. The result also leaves Chelsea nine points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, slashing their chances of ending the season atop the table.
Enzo Maresca’s side had been touted as credible contenders coming into the match, claims Neville has now rubbished.
Speaking to Sky Sports at full-time, he declared: "I don't think they can win the title. In fact, I don't think they've got a chance.
"Chelsea do have some gaping holes when you see title-winning teams.”
He continued, acknowledging that Chelsea have built an impressive young squad, but he maintained that they are lacking quality in defence, in goal, and at striker.
Robert Sanchez could arguably have done better to keep out Tanaka’s second on Wednesday, while Leeds’ third was the direct result of a dreadful error from Tosin Adarabioyo. At the opposite end of the pitch, striker Liam Delap struggled to impose himself, as did substitute Marc Guiu.
Neville added: "Chelsea will be in the top four or five, no problem, but when you talk about Chelsea winning the league, they are short in goal, short at centre back and short up top.
"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 (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.”
