“I watch Chelsea a lot and I think if you can get through the first 20 minutes against Chelsea, their confidence goes, there are a few young kids in the team, and I just think they’re easy to play against,” Merson told Sky Sports Soccer Saturday after the full-time whistle.
“The pitch is so small, it might not be the smallest pitch, but the way they want to play it seems so easy to play against and get into a block. The longer the game went on, I said it, Bournemouth were the ones who looked like they would break and score.
“You look sometimes and you think, I know it’s easy to say this after, but for Frank [Lampard] it wasn’t a good day at the office. He took off Jorginho, he brought on Hudson-Odoi, then he brings on Batshuayi to play upfront with Abraham.
“He has all these forwards on and it reminds me of watching Man City play when they are behind. They go crash, bang, wallop, put a lorry-load of players on and everyone is bumping into each other. There was no space.
“You have to look at Chelsea, they will have to go into the market. Tammy Abraham didn’t have a kick today. I don’t think this squad will get in top-four.”
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