Gianfranco Zola makes shock Chelsea title claim after rare Arsenal defeat

Gianfranco Zola believes Chelsea are still challenge of catching Premier League leaders Arsenal under ‘serious coach’ Enzo Maresca.

An encouraging run of form and a spirited 1-1 draw with Arsenal suggested Chelsea were ready to mount a sustained title challenge.

Maresca’s side were in a similar position this time last season and while they fell away in the league, ultimately finishing fourth, the Blues did win the Conference League at the end of the campaign and then the Club World Cup over the summer.

Chelsea impressed against title favourites Arsenal, earning a share of the spoils despite going down to ten men, but endured two disappointing results since then.

A shock 3-1 defeat to Leeds United was followed by a goalless draw against Bournemouth, with Chelsea slipping to fifth in the Premier League, eight points adrift of the Gunners.

A number of pundits, including Gary Neville, have ruled Chelsea out of the title race following those results but Stamford Bridge legend Zola believes there is still a chance of his former club competing for the title.

Zola, one of Chelsea’s best players of the pre-Roman Abramovich era, told The Times: ‘Winning a Premier League is always difficult, but why not?

‘That Arsenal game was a great sign of their maturity. Playing for so long 10 against 11, and playing in a way that meant they didn’t suffer much at all against probably the best team in Europe right now, is a sign of great strength.

‘The same can be said for the manner in which they limited Barcelona even before their red card.

‘I’ve been really impressed with Maresca, and not just because he’s already won titles. That element is really important but what I really like is the team’s sense of identity.

‘Despite being young, despite having such a big squad with so many great players to try to get the best from, he has already given a really clear, rich and distinct identity.

‘That reflects well on Maresca, and because he’s still so young, he still has so much scope to progress even further as a coach.

‘I didn’t know him personally before he came to Chelsea, but I had followed what he did at Leicester and could see that we were dealing with a serious coach.

‘He’s worked with and for [Arrigo] Sacchi, Manuel Pellegrini, [Pep] Guardiola. He’s had an excellent grounding.’

Former Manchester United and England defender Neville said Chelsea were ‘miles away’ from winning the Premier League after their 3-1 defeat at Leeds.

‘I’ve never bought into this, “Chelsea are going to challenge for the title”,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.

‘Getting close, maybe getting up to third or second, maybe, because there’s a lot of inconsistency around near the top of the league, it’s only Arsenal performing at a level you would say is anything like at the moment.

‘Look, Leeds haven’t been great recently but there has to be an understanding of what they may face, I didn’t think there was any of that from Chelsea, the coach made changes.

‘He played a team of very young players, Chalobah at right-back was awkward in terms of on the ball first half, you have a mountain of passes, a million passes in the back three that was driving me crazy, and you start passing slowly, don’t start a game slowly, get the ball moving.

‘They drifted, walking on the ball, so many passes back the way, and when you start like that and a team are on top of you, you’re playing right into their hands.

‘They want them to play across the back slowly, it’s the easier thing in the world for the opposition, so don’t do that, feed the ball quickly into positions further forward.

‘I have to say, Chelsea didn’t approach the game correctly. They didn’t have the beef on the pitch to handle Leeds’ muscle, it’s as simple as that, they were out-muscled, out-fought, out-run.

‘Let’s stop talking about Chelsea being a title-winning team, it’s not there. They haven’t got the goalkeeper for it, they haven’t got the centre-backs for it, and they haven’t got the centre-forwards for it.

‘But they will finish in the top four, I think they’ve got a lot of very good players, they’ve spent a fortune on that squad, they’ve got some real talent in there.

‘But they’re miles away from being a title-winning team, and I know what a title-winning team looks like and Chelsea fans will know what a title-winning team looks like.

‘They’ve won plenty of them. They’ve seen the physicality and the durability you need to win the league, it’s not all about playing football.

‘Particularly in these months of December, January, February, there are big demands on these players, it gets colder, games come thick and fast, the lads are having to go every three or four days, you’ve got to play a more robust game at this period of the year.

‘Chelsea are way off it in certain areas of the pitch, the spine is not good enough. They have some excellent players and there’s a lot to work with but they’re nowhere near a title-winning team, they’re nowhere near.’

Chelsea will be desperate to get back to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday when Everton visit Stamford Bridge.

Before that, Maresca’s side are in midweek Champions League action against Serie A side Atalanta.

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