Olaleye Idowu
Former Manchester United and Newcastle United star Alan Smith has ruled Chelsea out of this season’s title race.
According to him, the title race is between three clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
He named Arsenal as the favourites to claim the title this season, having come close in the last few seasons.
Following their triumph in the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup, many pundits identified Chelsea as ‘dark horses’ to win the Premier League.
However, the Blues have only been able to win three of their opening seven league games to slip to seventh in the Premier League, five points behind early pacesetters Arsenal.
Before the FIFA International break, the Blues bounced back to beat defending champions Liverpool.
But Smith has not changed his opinion about Enzo Maresca’s team, insisting they are not title contenders.
“As good as they were against Liverpool the other week, I don’t think Chelsea will be in it,” Smith told Metro.
“Man City are a bit of an unknown quantity. Maybe we thought they weren’t going to be able to mount a challenge this year.
“But I think they might hang around and make things difficult for Arsenal and Liverpool. Erling Haaland’s absolutely flying, and Rodri is getting back.
“City is still in the conversation for me. But they might be third in line because I still see Arsenal as the favourites.
“Liverpool were brilliant last season, but they’ve got problems, haven’t they? Defensively especially. But I’d say it’s a three-horse race.”
Chelsea are up against Nottingham Forest after the international break and will hope to record a back-to-back victory.
