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Soccer

Pat Nevin shares his concerns about Chelsea's title defence

With the Community Shield behind us, nothing stands between us and a new Premier League season. A...



Pat Nevin shares his concerns...
Soccer

Pat Nevin shares his concerns about Chelsea's title defence

With the Community Shield behind us, nothing stands between us and a new Premier League season.

And it's an intriguing one in many ways with the Top 6 sides all potentially capable of winning the title or missing out on the Top 4.

Plus there is Everton, who have strengthened their squad - albeit with the sale of top scorer Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United.

The return of the Premier League of course means former Everton and Chelsea winger Pat Nevin is back with us every week on Off The Ball and on Tuesday night we got his thoughts on the main challengers in the race for the title and Top Four places.

Pat shared some of his concerns over raising champions Chelsea, whose deficiencies were shown up somewhat in the Community Shield. More importantly, the squad is small when it comes to depth - especially after selling Nemanja Matic to rivals Man United - and it seems manager Antonio Conte is not exactly best pleased with the way the transfer window has gone.

"They would need, I would suggest, at least three big name players. Now, you mention the fact that they have paid over £150 million but they've got a lot of money in," he said.

"Because you have to look at the wider sense. They made a lot of money from the players they got rid of last season as well, so that's made a big difference. They have got the money to spend. It's just making sure they spend it right. If it turned out they got [Virgil] van Dijk and they got a certain other central midfielder that can do a sitting job - they're not that difficult to find - and they sorted out the Costa situation, you would be less concerned about them.

"But certainly they don't look anywhere near strong enough to fight on all fronts this season which is a real shame. And you're absolutely right, Conte won't be delighted about that."  

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