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Sky Sports pundits Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Carragher have ruled Chelsea out of the Premier League title race after stressing the “massive gulf” between the two sides following the Blues’ 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.

Xabi Alonso’s team had been tipped to challenge the champions this season after an encouraging start to the new campaign, having beaten Fulham 3-2 and Brighton 4-3 in their opening two matches. They also made the ideal start at the Emirates, with Morgan Rogers putting them ahead inside 90 seconds.

But from that point, the Gunners took control of the contest. An equaliser was disallowed before Kai Havertz beat Emi Martinez to make it 1-1 before the break.

Martin Odegaard then struck the winner as the Gunners preserved their 100% record.

The pattern continued in the second half at the Emirates, with the champions dictating the game and giving Chelsea very little going forward before Martin Odegaard completed an excellent move with a fierce finish for the decisive goal.

Although some had viewed Chelsea as possible title challengers early in the season, the match underlined the gap between the two clubs and also reinforced Arsenal’s position as favourites for 2026/27.

Carragher and Sturridge were both in agreement that the Blues remain behind their London rivals while their rebuild continues, with Sturridge saying Chelsea are “a work in progress”.

“I feel as if [Chelsea] started the game well, but ultimately, you can see that there are few things that need to change for them to be as fluid as they can be,” Sturridge said at full-time on Sky Sports.

“They threatened Arsenal at various moments, but I think they are very much leaning into the front three right now. The chemistry is there for the front three, but outside of it, you can see it’s a work in progress.

“What Xabi [Alonso] needs to do, and what he’s going to address, is how to get the team playing the style he wants. They won the first two games, they gave a good account of themselves today, but I’m talking about communication, knowing where you want to be, knowing your teammates roles.

“You can still see there’s a little bit of confusion, it’s not seamless yet, and going forward they’re reliant on the front three to win them games right now, and relying on their quality. That’s not sustainable all season,.”

Carragher agreed with Sturridge, although he chose to focus more on Arsenal being the finished product, saying that “it doesn’t look like anyone can score against them”.

“There is a massive gulf between both teams – their XIs and the squads. It will take Chelsea a while to get to that level, if they can get there,” Carragher said, adding that he “thought Arsenal were fantastic”.

“We don't normally see Arsenal in these games, end-to-end, because they very rarely go behind. They're so strong defensively they don't need to get involved in those games. They still didn't look like they were going to give too much away.”

When asked about the gap between the two teams after the final whistle, Alonso said he had “learnt about the game, about us, about what we are doing, what we are starting,” but pointed out that “it's game three and this is going to be a long, long ride.”

“The players have this attitude, this desire to compete better game by game to create something we believe in. So far I'm happy. We want to win games, this is the ultimate goal,” he said.

Chelsea’s next match is against Leeds in the Carabao Cup in midweek, while Arsenal begin their Champions League campaign against Napoli in Naples on Wednesday.