"Certain" - Carragher & Neville Agree On Chelsea's Champions League Qualification Chances | OneFootball

Previewing Chelsea's 2026/27 season. Video Credit: Absolute Chelsea

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have agreed that Chelsea are “certain” to secure a Champions League qualification at the end of the season thanks to their absence from European competitions.

Chelsea ended last season with a disappointing 10th-place finish, which means no ticket to the Champions League, the Europa League, or the Conference League.

The surprise mid-season managerial change, with Enzo Maresca leaving his post on New Year’s Day, clearly played a part.

Liam Rosenior was brought in from Strasbourg to steady the ship, but after failing to meet expectations, Chelsea sacked him 107 days later in April.

It is not all doom and gloom, despite the underwhelming end to last season.

Chelsea were quick to appoint Xabi Alonso as new manager in May, and the lack of European football may prove favourable to their new campaign. Carragher certainly thinks so.

“I just think if you’ve still got good players, which they have, and you’re training to get yourselves ready, to be at it every weekend,” Carragher said on Sky Sports when speaking about Chelsea’s chances of finishing in the Champions League spots this season.

“The problem the biggest teams have is that sometimes you can catch them on Saturday 3 o'clock games when they had already played in midweek, and they’re not quite there; they’ll draw a game or lose.

“You’ve never got that thing when you’ve got no European football.

Carragher pointed out how not having to worry about European competitions helped Manchester United go from finishing 15th in 2024/25 to third last season.

Chelsea also had this advantage the last time they won the Premier League title.

The Blues finished 10th in the 2015/16 season, which saw Jose Mourinho sacked for the second time and replaced by Gus Hiddink until the end of the season.

Antonio Conte arrived the following season and led Chelsea to their fifth league title, finishing 43 points more than the last campaign.

Obviously, the loss of UEFA competition revenue is a blow, but Chelsea have been able to acquire top players and even strong personalities this summer.

Added experience could get Chelsea to challenge for title

Chelsea had the youngest squad in the league in the past two seasons, and it showed.

There is no question that they had talent in almost every position, but young players tend to be more inconsistent, and so were Chelsea in the last few seasons.

The club shifted their recruitment strategy under Alonso this summer, adding several veterans and more senior players to the squad.

This, according to Neville, may help Chelsea compete at the top this season.

“I completely agree with Jamie; I think they’re certain to finish in a Champions League place,” the former Manchester United defender explained.

“I think they could even be second. They could get nearest to Arsenal.

In addition to Welbeck and Henderson, Chelsea also signed Maxence Lacroix, who was a vice-captain at Wolfsburg and Crystal Palace, Emmanuel Emegha, who captained Strasbourg last season, and 28-year-old Pep Chavarria.

These players are expected to join Reece James, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, and others who are already in Chelsea’s leadership group.