Peter Crouch discusses Chelsea title chances as Liverpool could face new contender

Peter Crouch said that he classes Chelsea as one of the contenders for Liverpool's crown following the Blues' win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Enzo Maresca's side scored three second-half goals at the City Ground to move onto 14 points after eight games — one point shy of Liverpool in third, and five points behind league leader Arsenal.

Appearing on TNT Sports after the game, Crouch was asked whether Chelsea's win over Forest had secured the club as a Premier League title contender in his mind.

“It’s not shifted my view — I classed them as that (a title contender) before the game," Crouch said. "The result against Liverpool was massive for them.

"And if they’re winning games as comfortably as they have today with the injuries they’ve got, Josh Acheampong was fantastic today again as well.”

Chelsea boss Maresca watched the game from the stands as he served a touchline ban, but he was happy with what he saw from his team, particularly during the goal-filled second period, despite Malo Gusto's late dismissal.

"First half we struggled a little bit," Maresca said. "Off the ball we were good, but on the ball we made some mistakes and conceded chances to them.

"My message at half-time was the way we were pressing was good, but on the ball we were not good enough. We were sloppy in the build-up. Second half we adjusted something tactically and we were better.

"For sure we can do better in terms of the red card, that was a mistake at 3-0, we can avoid that, but at the same time the desire from the players not to concede a goal was important also. In the last four or five minutes they were shouting to each other, ‘don’t concede, don’t concede’."

Chelsea's win briefly moved the team into the top four, but Bournemouth and Manchester City both moved back ahead of the Stamford Bridge club with their results later in the day.

Arsenal looks like the team to beat at the moment, though, after moving onto 19 points from eight games with a 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage in Saturday's late kick-off.

Leandro Trossard scored the winning goal for the Gunners, turning the ball home from close range after Gabriel had flicked Bukayo Saka's corner on.

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