Scott Minto: Chelsea may have narrowed the gap on Liverpool

It's going to be a great test of where Chelsea and Liverpool are at when they meet at Stamford Bridge on Sunday with Frank Lampard getting an early chance to register a statement result against the champions.

They may not be able to win, but I do fancy Chelsea for a point, a result which both teams may consider a positive given this clash of the heavyweights comes so soon in the season.

Chelsea were 33 points back on Liverpool last season, but that gap is going to be a lot smaller following the purchases of Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell.

I don't see Chelsea winning the title and it would be unfair to say they should. Yes, they have spent money but a huge chunk of that came from the sale of Eden Hazard last summer and it is going to take time for all of the new arrivals to bed in.

We saw that in Monday's win over Brighton when Havertz understandably struggled a little bit but there was enough in Timo Werner's performance to suggest he will become a key player for Chelsea this season.

It's going to be interesting to see how Frank develops the team and the formation. When I played I liked a settled position and a settled side so you could build relationships, however modern football isn't like that and you don't want to be predictable.

At the same time you don't want to be like Pep Guardiola against Lyon and end up too clever for your own good, particularly when coaches have not had six weeks to work on systems in pre-season.

The one change Chelsea will need to make is in goal and if they could have made only one signing this summer it should have been someone to replace Kepa.

I don't want to be part of a pile-on when a player is struggling but on another night his latest mishap at Brighton could have cost the team vital points. A top keeper cannot allow a shot at that angle and from that distance to beat him and he has been at the club long enough to find his best form. It's just not going to happen for him.

Kepa will be tested again by Liverpool's top-quality forward line and as a former left-back I think I would be having kittens at the prospect of facing Mohamed Salah in the form he is in.

It will be absolutely massive for Chelsea when Ben Chilwell is fit enough to start. I respect the career Marcos Alonso has had at Chelsea, but he is a wing-back and he had trouble dealing with Brighton defensively.

What you need to do to nullify Salah is deny him space.

In my day that would have meant sitting my winger in front of me, but now you do that with the midfielders getting out for protection and I don't think N'Golo Kante and Jorginho did that well enough to help Alonso on Monday.

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