Chelsea owner Todd Boehly won’t believe how well the club have started the season amid a surprise Premier League title challenge, according to Gary Neville. Wins have been the norm at the start of Enzo Maresca’s tenure, sparking suggestions that there could’ve been some method to Boehly’s transfer madness after all.
The Blues are currently Liverpool’s closest challengers at the top-flight summit, having won nine and lost just two of their opening 15 league matches.
Maresca’s men also lead the way in the UEFA Conference League, scoring 18 goals and conceding just thrice across their four victorious games thus far.
Chelsea have splurged over £1billion in just two years since Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club from long-term kingpin Roman Abramovich.
But not many expected the Stamford Bridge outfit to have started so quickly under Maresca, and Neville believes the hierarchy will be among those stunned.
“This is well ahead of schedule from where I thought they were last year. I mean, the job Maresca has done is incredible,” Neville explained on The Overlap US.
“The way in which he stabilised everything is something that, I mean, the Chelsea ownership must be thinking, ‘wow, this is exactly what we wanted when we appointed this guy’, but they wouldn’t have expected it to be so quick, I’m sure.”
Chelsea are second in the Premier League, trailing Liverpool by four points (having played one more match) while sitting two and four ahead of Arsenal and Manchester City, respectively.
The hectic winter schedule has thrown up some favourable fixtures, including home clashes with Brentford, Fulham and Bournemouth.
Chelsea will also travel to Everton, Ipswich Town, Crystal Palace and Wolves before visiting the Etihad Stadium to face City on January 25.
Neville added that he expects the west Londoners to close the gap to Liverpool in the coming weeks but has tipped them to ultimately miss out on a seventh league title.
The Overlap host continued: “The fact of the matter is with these games they [Chelsea] have got coming up… if they win them…
“I think there’s only one team they’re playing in the top ten in the next six, seven, eight games.
“There’s no excuse for them not to get closer to Liverpool in that period with the way in which they’re playing, the way in which he’s rotating the squad.
“You’re right. They will be within a shout of the league if they get closer to January, but I still think they’ll fall short.”
