Paul Merson believes Chelsea are the team to beat in the Premier League this campaign and says Manchester City nedd to sign Harry Kane to compete with them after Romelu Lukaku’s return to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues kick-started their Premier League season with a 3-0 victory over London rivals Crystal Palace on the opening weekend of the new campaign.
Lukaku missed that game as he was still quarantining following his £97.5m move from Inter Milan, but is set to make his second Chelsea debut on Sunday against Arsenal.
Merson believes clubs are now turning up to face Chelsea ‘knowing they’re beaten’ and says Man City need Kane to hold off a title challenge from Tuchel’s side.
Former Arsenal and England player Merson told Sky Sports: ‘Chelsea are paying £90m for a player they let go in Romelu Lukaku. They don’t care!
‘They don’t think: “Everyone is going to go mad that we’re signing a player for three times what we sold him for!” They just go and sign him.
‘At the time he wasn’t ready for Chelsea – he’s ready now, he’s a better player all round. I think he’s a great signing, and a game-changer for Chelsea. Man City have to buy Harry Kane.
‘Chelsea reminded me of Man City against Crystal Palace. They just completely and utterly dominated Palace, at the highest level, like we see with Man City a lot of the time at home.
‘Teams turn up and they know they’re beaten, and I think we’re going to get that at Chelsea now. It was mind-blowing.
‘And what are they doing at their academy? Tammy Abraham has gone. They’ve brought through Trevoh Chalobah, who looked established at the highest level on Saturday, they’ve got Reece James, Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi. It’s mind-blowing.
‘Frank Lampard did a great job starting this off, bringing them in, but these kids have been at Chelsea since nine or 10 years of age, and they deserve a lot of credit for this.
‘Every game counts this season, and I mean that. Man City are behind already. People will say: “Oh it’s only one game” but I can’t see the top four dropping too many points this season. I think we’re seeing a gulf between the top four and the rest now.’
