Gary Neville has pinpointed Chelsea’s three problems that needs immediate solution
Gary Neville has pinpointed Chelsea’s three problems that needs immediate solution
Gary Neville has highlighted three areas for concern for Chelsea despite an encouraging performance against Arsenal. The Blues did throw away a 2-0 lead at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening but it was an impressive display from the hosts.
Goals from Cole Palmer and Mykhailo Mudryk put Chelsea two goals ahead but the Gunners fought back late on to ensure the points would be shared in west London. Declan Rice capitalised on an error from Robert Sanchez just moments before Leandro Trossard lost Malo Gusto at the far post to level the game for the visitors.
Neville, though, who was very complimentary of Chelsea and their performance for the most part, picked out three areas of concern for Mauricio Pochettino and his side. One of them being a lack of striker, with Nicolas Jackson starting on the bench meaning Palmer was a makeshift centre-forward for the day.
“Chelsea have shown a blueprint of what the future could look like,” Neville said on his podcast. “They’ve still got a problem up front, they haven’t got a striker, and I still think they’ve got a problem with Thiago Silva’s age.
“He’s so important for them, but he is 39. And then the goalkeeper… Can he step up to be a good goalkeeper?
“You can see that midfield, and in wide areas, they are bright. The full-backs, Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto, did well today. And they are the second-choice full-backs, by the way.”
Two of Chelsea’s standout performers on the day were Palmer and Conor Gallagher, with both of them playing in slightly different roles to what they are used to. Palmer was being used as a false nine essentially, while Gallagher was allowed to roam forward more than usual and both of them impressed on the evening.
“They had Gallagher and Palmer coming back into sort of No.10 positions,” Neville continued. “It really sort of shocked Arsenal.
“Out of possession, they couldn’t get the ball into [Martin] Odegaard, Arsenal, because of Chelsea’s four who were there, Gallagher, Palmer, [Moises] Caicedo and [Enzo] Fernandez. It was really good.”
