Chelsea ruled out of Premier League title race by pundits after narrow defeat to Arsenal | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundits Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Carragher have ruled Chelsea out of the Premier League title race after emphasising the “massive gulf” between the teams following the Blues’ 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.

Xabi Alonso’s side were tipped to challenge the champions this season after a promising start to the new campaign that saw them win 3-2 and 4-3 against Fulham and Brighton in their opening two games, and they got off to the perfect start at the Emirates as Morgan Rogers opened the scoring within 90 seconds.

However, the Gunners dominated proceedings from there, with an equaliser ruled out before Kai Havertz fired past Emi Martinez to level it before half-time.

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Martin Odegaard scored the winner as the Gunners maintained their 100% record (Reuters)

It was more of the same in the second half at the Emirates too, with the champions controlling the game and limiting Chelsea to very little in attack before Martin Odegaard finished a brilliant move to rifle in the winner.

And while some had seen Chelsea as potential title contenders early on this term, it was a match that served to highlight the gap between the two teams, while also highlighting Arsenal’s status as favourites for 2026/27.

Both Carragher and Sturridge agreed that the Blues are lagging behind their London rivals as their rebuild continues, with the latter highlighting that Chelsea are “a work in progress”.

“I feel as if [Chelsea] started the game well, but ultimately, you can see that there are few things that need to change for them to be as fluid as they can be,” said Sturridge at full-time on Sky Sports.

“They threatened Arsenal at various moments, but I think they are very much leaning into the front three right now. The chemistry is there for the front three, but outside of it, you can see it’s a work in progress.

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Xabi Alonso continues to try and mould his new-look side into serial contenders (Getty)

“What Xabi [Alonso] needs to do, and what he’s going to address, is how to get the team playing the style he wants. They won the first two games, they gave a good account of themselves today, but I’m talking about communication, knowing where you want to be, knowing your teammates roles.

“You can still see there’s a little bit of confusion, it’s not seamless yet, and going forward they’re reliant on the front three to win them games right now, and relying on their quality. That’s not sustainable all season,.”

Carragher agreed with Sturridge, though he preferred to emphasise how Arsenal are the finished article, explaining that “it doesn’t look like anyone can score against them”.

“There is a massive gulf between both teams – their XIs and the squads. It will take Chelsea a while to get to that level, if they can get there,” explained Carragher, who added that he “thought Arsenal were fantastic”.

“We don't normally see Arsenal in these games, end-to-end, because they very rarely go behind. They're so strong defensively they don't need to get involved in those games. They still didn't look like they were going to give too much away.”

When questioned about the gap between the two sides at full-time, Alonso said that he “learnt about the game, about us, about what we are doing, what we are starting,” but highlighted that “it's game three and this is going to be a long, long ride.”

“The players have this attitude, this desire to compete better game by game to create something we believe in. So far I'm happy. We want to win games, this is the ultimate goal,” he explained.

The Blues’ next game comes against Leeds in the Carabao Cup in midweek, while Arsenal will start their Champions League campaign against Napoli in Naples on Wednesday.