Lampard slams 'ridiculous' Klopp claim after Chelsea defeat

The Blues’ unbeaten run ended on Saturday against Everton to cost them valuable ground in the Premier League title race.

Frank Lampard believes Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Everton proved that Jurgen Klopp was wrong to claim Chelsea have the best squad in the Premier League, making them title favorites.

Edouard Mendy’s foul on Dominic Calvert-Lewin inside the opening 22 minutes enabled Gylfi Sigurdsson to score a penalty to seal Everton a narrow victory.

Chelsea attempted to respond, forcing Jordan Pickford into a handful of saves at Goodison Park. But Everton’s defending, along with Reece James and Mason Mount hitting the woodwork, condemned the Blues to defeat.

It ended a 14-match unbeaten run in all competitions, including nine in the Premier League, for Chelsea. Their last defeat in a normal 90-minute match, in fact, came in a 2-0 loss to Liverpool on September 20.

“It is a long season,” Lampard told BT Sport.

“If it makes people who are talking about us, saying we are going to win the league, we have got the best squad in the league. It is ridiculous stuff.

“When you talk about best squads, you have to look at the teams who have won it in the last two, three, four years. Their squads are full of strikers and wingers who score 30 or 40 goals a season and midfield players who have won multiple league titles all over the place.

“We have some, but we have young players and as a squad we are not there.

“In two or three years if I am still here and have a couple of leagues in our pocket and you ask me if we are title contenders I will say yes, but at the moment people want to look at our squad and talk about it.

“It is very quick that it has gone from after West Brom and Southampton and we were nowhere near good enough, rubbish, useless. Now last week we have the best squad in the league and are going to win it.

“We are probably somewhere in the middle and that’s the reality of it.”