Paul Scholes raised eyebrows during the latest episode of The Overlap after telling a Chelsea fan that his club currently have the weakest defence out of the Premier League’s top four.Scholes, who was discussing various Premier League-related topics with an audience of football fans alongside Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, said that he doesn’t view Chelsea as potential title contenders this season.This was a curious comment considering Chelsea sat top of the table during the international break after picking up 16 points from their opening seven fixtures.Asked why by Lewis Gebreselassie from Chelsea Fan TV, Scholes said that he isn’t convinced “there are enough goals in the team”. He doubts whether the likes of Timo Werner and Mason Mount will score enough goals to make up the numbers when Romelu Lukaku doesn’t find the net.
Scholes: Chelsea aren't great defensively
Scholes then added: “I also don’t think you’re great defensively.”
Lewis, sounding puzzled, replied: “Really?”
Scholes added: “I think [Antonio] Rudiger’s been really good but, other than that, you’ve got Thiago Silva who’s 36 or 37, Andreas Christensen’s a young player… I think in the middle of the pitch you’re alright. Jorginho and [N’Golo] Kante are really good players.
“I’m just not sure that you’ll score enough goals and that you’re defensively good enough.”
Lewis then expressed his belief that Chelsea have three of the best centre-backs in the league in the form of Rudiger, Silva and Christensen.
“Really?” Scholes replied. “Well, Liverpool have got the best centre-backs, [Manchester] City have got two great ones, I think United have got two really good ones.
“I think Chelsea are probably the weakest out of the top four defensively.”
Lewis said: “I think we’ll have to agree to disagree.”
Scholes finished by saying that Jorginho and Kante are the reason why Chelsea have such a good defensive record this season [three league goals conceded after seven fixtures] because they protect the back four.
Watch a clip here:
Chelsea fans react to Paul Scholes's comment
Many Chelsea fans, however, believe that Scholes was talking absolute nonsense:
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