Notable football pundits, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards are all in agreement in the way they think Chelsea fared in 2023.
The Blues finished the year 10th on the Premier League table after winning three of their four games over the festive season. The wins came from matches against Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, and Luton Town, with Wolves the only side to defeat them during that period.
It was a decent way to end the year for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, who had struggled to make progress for most of the 2023-24 season. This is despite the humongous amount of money they spent on bringing in new players from different leagues and clubs around the world last summer, as pointed out by Lineker, Shearer, and Richards during an episode of the Rest Is Football podcast.
Asked to mention the underachievers of the season so far, Lineker said: “I’m going to have to say Chelsea. The amount of money they have spent, they are definitely underachieving.
Shearer then said in agreement: “It’s going to have to be Chelsea, with the ridiculous amount of money that has been spent there for them to be still be in mid table, one week you think they’re okay, the next you think how bad are they. It has to be Chelsea.
Richards added: “Yeah, agreed – it’s a triple threat. We’re all Chelsea. The players they have as well, they have some really talented players.”
Chelsea will get their 2024 underway with an FA Cup third round clash with Preston North End on Saturday evening, and fans will be hoping for a great start to the new year.