‘You could see’ - Paul Merson makes bold Chelsea and Moises Caicedo claim after Liverpool draw

Chelsea have already impressed one particular pundit after their performance against Liverpool over the weekend.

The Blues started a little slowly against Liverpool in their season opener, with the Reds taking the lead and seeing another disallowed, but Mauricio Pochettino’s men rallied to take control of the game, equalising through Axel Disasi and before getting a goal of their own disallowed after Ben Chilwell rounded Alisson Becker.

Chelsea had to settle for a draw in the end, but they showed real signs of progress following a disappointing campaign of last.

And with Moises Caicedo now added to Pochettino’s midfield, Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson thinks the signing will take them over the top in the top four race.

“Chelsea already look a hundred times better than last season and with Moises Caicedo moving to Stamford Bridge, they’ll finish in the top four instead of Liverpool,” Merson told Sky Sports.

“You could see in Sunday’s game that both clubs need Caicedo and that’s why he’s going for £115m. Is he worth that? Not for me, but Chelsea supporters won’t care how much they pay. Liverpool were so open. I just don’t see who is going to win the ball back for them. Conor Gallagher did a good job for Chelsea to break things up after a slow start, but Liverpool didn’t have that.

“If Liverpool had played one of the top sides, like Arsenal or Man City, on Sunday then they’d have been in trouble, it could have been four or five. They got ripped open a lot of times and were never punished.”

Liverpool have overhauled their midfield this summer, but they still need more, and they could yet miss out on new prime target Romeo Lavia amid interest from Chelsea, who also snatched Caicedo following initial talks between the Reds and Brighton.