Liverpool boss Arne Slot makes Chelsea prediction after £250m spending spree

Arne Slot is adamant Chelsea are going to rival Liverpool for the Premier League title this season.

A Chelsea team that finished fourth last term and won the Conference League has been strengthened by a £250m summer spending spree.

The Blues spent almost £200m on the signings of Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Jorrel Hato and Liam Delap, while bolstering Enzo Maresca’s squad with a number of other additions.

Chelsea’s encouraging form under Maresca continued over the summer as the west London club won the controversial Club World Cup.

That victory in the States and another summer of heavy investment has convinced a number of pundits that Chelsea are dark horses to win the Premier League this season.

Chelsea briefly threatened to mount a title challenge last season before falling away after Christmas and eventually finishing 15 points behind champions Liverpool.

But Slot was impressed by Chelsea’s form across the campaign and says they will be ‘one of the ones’ to challenge for the title this term.

‘I expected them to win last season already,’ the Liverpool boss told talkSPORT when asked if he viewed Chelsea as title contenders.

‘The amount of quality they have and they were there at the start of the season. They were in [the title race] after ten games. They were still there [in December].

‘Squad depth, quality, they have a very good manager as well, and I think they’ve shown this by winning the trophies they won last season.

‘It was good for us that they also had a period last season where they struggled and that’s why they couldn’t compete till the end for the league title.

‘But now they’re strengthening the team again, so a team that’s, in my opinion, one of the ones that are going to challenge for a league title.’

While Chelsea have improved Maresca’s squad over the summer, the same can be said for Liverpool, who pulled ten points clear of second-placed Arsenal last season.

Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike have all arrived at Anfield, while Liverpool remain interested in Alexander Isak and Marc Guehi.

Liverpool’s title defence begins on Friday night against Bournemouth, while Chelsea play their Premier League opener on Sunday against Crystal Palace.

Asked whether he felt more pressure this season compared to 12 months ago given Liverpool’s status as champions, Slot said: ‘I also felt pressure on myself last season because everybody maybe didn’t expect a lot.

‘So that also comes down with a certain pressure. Everybody was saying after Jurgen, it’s impossible, it’s impossible.

‘I think now we might need more time than we needed last season because the manager changed, but the players stayed the same.

‘I’ve said many times that the playing style between Jurgen and me is not so different that it takes ages for them to be adapted to it. Now players need to adapt to each other and we also brought different profiles in.

‘We cannot compare Florian Wirtz with any player we’ve got – maybe with Harvey Elliott – but he didn’t play that much last season. And Jeremie Frimpong is a completely, completely different profile to Trent Alexander-Arnold.

‘This is something that might need some time, but let’s be clear, that’s no excuse for our results in the beginning of the season.

‘I think in the beginning of the season, everybody needs a bit of time. Because we’re not the only team that brought in new players. The only difference is that we also sold starters.

‘If I’m correct, our main competitors only brought players in and none of their players left. With us, it was about signing replacements.’

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