A former Stamford Bridge favourite has backed his old club to be in the mix for the Premier League crown come May
Chelsea are real title contenders this season, according to Frank Sinclair, who says the Blues will only get stronger under Frank Lampard.
Lampard was backed to the tune of over £200 million ($263m) heading into his second season in charge at Stamford Bridge, having overseen an impressive 2019-20 campaign which ended in a fourth-place Premier League finish.
Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva and Edouard Mendy were all drafted in over the summer to help bolster Chelsea's chances of becoming an elite force once again, with Liverpool and Manchester City setting high standards at the top of the table in recent years.
Lampard's new-look squad is already beginning to gel together nicely, and the Blues are only four points adrift of the Premier League summit after seven fixtures, with a home meeting against struggling Sheffield United up next on Saturday.
Chelsea will head into that clash fresh from a 3-0 Champions League win over Rennes in midweek which saw them move top of Group E and extend their run of consecutive clean sheets across all competitions to five.
Sinclair is confident his old club are heading in the right direction, and sees an opportunity for them to recapture the Premier League crown with reigning champions Liverpool currently being forced to cope without long-term injury absentee Virgil van Dijk.
"Initially when Frank Lampard brought in a few new faces I was really excited, but then you have the realisation that it's going to take time for things to work out - especially in an attacking sense," the ex-Blues defender told Ladbrokes.
"You need to give them time to settle into the team.
"It's pretty evident in recent results that they have done that and I can only see Chelsea kicking on and getting stronger throughout the season and I think they can be real contenders for the title because for me, there's no outstanding side.
"Obviously Liverpool are the main team you've got to try and overtake to win the title but with them losing Virgil van Dijk I think it opens things up for a few sides to be involved in the title race.
"I think Chelsea will be in and around it; they'll only get stronger throughout the season and for me they've got arguably the best attacking lines in the country - along with Liverpool.
"The more they get used to playing under Frank, the better they'll get."