Gary Neville issues brutal verdict on where Chelsea are ‘well short’ of rivals | OneFootball

Neville believes Chelsea are lacking quality in one key area to challenge for the title

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New £60million signing Joao Pedro led the line at Old Trafford, with Liam Delap out with a hamstring injury until December and Cole Palmer subbed early with a groin issue.

Neville has criticised Chelsea’s lack of attacking options and questioned how they can spend so much money but still lack the quality in key areas to challenge for the title.

Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, he said: “For all the money they have spent, and I know they’ve got Delap and Joao Pedro, who is a good player, but they are still not at that level where you think… they are nothing like (Erling) Haaland or (Alexander) Isak or even (Hugo) Ekitike for that matter.”

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Chelsea were reduced to 10 men after five minutes at Old Trafford when Robert Sanchez was sent off for a foul on Bryan Mbuemo.

Casemiro offered the Blues a route back into the game when he was sent off just before half time, but they but failed to do so and Neville feels that was down to their lack of quality in forward areas.

“In the second half when you are playing against 10, I thought they should have done a lot better, quite simply they did not have enough quality forwards on the pitch,” he said.