Arsenal legend Ian Wright has given his verdict on Chelsea's title chances after they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of their London rivals on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues did go in front at the Emirates Stadium when Morgan Rogers fired them into an early lead with a volleyed effort from the edge of the box after just two minutes, but the Gunners fought back to equalise through former Chelsea man Kai Havertz before Martin Ødegaard grabbed the eventual winner.
Losing in what could prove to be a potential title decider was a huge stumble in Chelsea's fine start to the Premier League season, but there is still plenty of talk around Xabi Alonso and his side's title chances, and Wright has weighed in on those discussions.
Ian Wright gives verdict on Chelsea's title chances after Arsenal defeat
Ian Wright gives his view on whether Chelsea will challenge Arsenal for the title 🤔 pic.twitter.com/cFBk4A2Yjx
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Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Wright said: "I think that their front three is going to cause a lot of people problems, but it's all going to come down to the midfield.
"I genuinely believe that they're probably going to know Enzo will definitely go, Santos like we mentioned went earlier, and they tried to get in [Lamine Camara] from Monaco at the end. I think they could have done that earlier, just got him in because Enzo was going to go.
"I think that the only problem they'll have is the midfield and the problems that they may have with a couple of injury-prone players in their midfield."
Chelsea's attacking trio of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and João Pedro has already been a source of plenty of trouble for opposition teams so far this season, with at least one of the three scoring in one of their side's opening games.
Each of them has scored two goals in the first three games and has shown their credentials as a frontline that can lead the Blues to glory, but as Wright stated, the potential problems for Alonso lie in midfield.
Against Arsenal, Roméo Lavia, who has struggled to stay consistently fit since joining the club, and natural right back Reece James started in the middle with Malo Gusto replacing the former off the bench with an hour gone.
Alonso isn't blessed with options in the middle of the park and with Moisés Caicedo battling fitness issues that prevented him from being involved against the Gunners, there is a risk that the midfield is where Chelsea fall apart.
Wright did acknowledge that the Blues can challenge though as he continued: "But in respects of their team and the front guys, I think they'll be able to beat a lot of teams in the league, and especially once they know exactly what he's doing.
"I go back to it again, when Xabi Alonso finished at Leverkusen, he was in 61, 62% possession so they're going to change. They're going to play in a different way so I'm sure that things will change and they will get to be the team that will probably be challenging up there as well, and alongside other people probably."
It's clear that as an overall team with the attacking threat of Palmer, Rogers and Pedro that Wright does fancy as a side that can reach the top to challenge Arsenal and potentially others such as Manchester City for the title.
However, it will take time to fully adapt to Alonso's style of play and that will massively benefit the Blues in any potential title charge. As stated by Wright, during his time at Leverkusen, he was ending matches with dominant possession, but Chelsea are yet to do that in the league, taking 46% against the Gunners, 38% in the win over Fulham and a shocking 26% at home to Brighton.
Once Alonso has fully utilised how he wants to play, Chelsea will look good to challenge, and as Wright said, the attacking trio is enough to beat plenty of teams, but the problems do lie in midfield and the reliance on injury-prone players. If the Blues can shake those issues, they will have no problem competing with their London rivals for the crown.
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