Arne Slot claims Chelsea have Estevao advantage after Liverpool's latest defeat | OneFootball

Arne Slot has argued that Chelsea have a deeper squad than Liverpool, as he pointed out Estevao's substitution in their defeat at Stamford Bridge as an example.

Liverpool suffered their sixth defeat in their last seven games to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

Similar to Chelsea, Liverpool fielded a heavily rotated team in the fourth round, with three teenagers in the starting line-up and a further five among the substitutes.

However, while the former managed to win their match against Wolves, Arne Slot's side were defeated 3-0 and consequently knocked out of the Carabao Cup.

According to Slot, unlike Chelsea, who still had decent options on the bench even during their so-called injury crisis, Liverpool are struggling to compete on all fronts.

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"I saw (Manchester) City's line-up and I don't think they had one starter from the weekend, but it felt as if - if you look at their line-up - that they had played with their 11 starters," the Liverpool head coach said in his post-match press conference.

"Maybe that gives a little bit of an insight that everybody has always said how big of a squad we have.

"When we played Chelsea, I said they are missing eight but they can still bring Estevao in.

"We are only missing four players at the moment, and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19. After I made two substitutions, we were on six."

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Liverpool invested heavily in their squad in the summer, much more than Chelsea, who were under pressure from UEFA to keep their balance positive, so Slot's statement certainly raised some eyebrows.

As Slot pointed out, Chelsea have also had to deal with an extensive injury list, which includes key players such as Levi Colwill and Cole Palmer.

To put it into perspective, Enzo Maresca has made 10 changes in his team in three consecutive matches, and this shows that most top teams, not just Liverpool, have also had to cope with the congested schedule.