Glen Johnson: Chelsea are my pick to win what could be greatest ever Premier League title race

Former Chelsea and Liverpool defender Glen Johnson claims that while two of his old clubs will be part of what could be the Premier League’s greatest ever title race, he’s backing the Blues to come out on top in May at the end of the season. 

With Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City all starting strongly, securing important wins, and playing impressive football along the way, there’s a strong feeling from punters and pundits alike that this could be the top flight’s closest and most entertaining championship race for many years.

Johnson spoke to us to explain why he thinks it’ll be Thomas Tuchel’s side who will finish in top spot at the end of the campaign.

“There’s every chance this could be the greatest Premier League title race of all time,” said Johnson. “The winner could be any of those three (Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester City) and I don’t think anyone would be surprised if it was.

“It’s normally a one or two-horse race for the title, but now you have three or maybe even four teams who could win it. It’s a great advert for the Premier League.

“If you had to put me on the spot and force me to say one team who I think it would be, then I’d probably say Chelsea. But you could have ten people in the room, and they’d give different answers, which shows how close it could be.”

Two of Johnson’s old teams won convincingly at the weekend, after Chelsea’s impressive 7-0 victory at home to Norwich on Saturday was followed up by Liverpool’s 5-0 thrashing of Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. And the former England right-back admits he’s been impressed with both sides and their starts to the season.

“They’re both doing OK – it could definitely be worse!” joked Johnson. “With Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel has done a brilliant job so far, and he’s certainly won me over too. I didn’t know too much about the styles of play his teams had, and the move all happened very quickly at the time.

“He’s knuckled down and got on with it, and they eventually put on some great performances, and they dominate matches now. They’ve continued to do that, and it looks like he’s been there for years. He’s brought back players from the dead and I think they’ll be very hard to stop this season.”

Johnson also spoke about the strength in depth at Stamford Bridge and how that will count for a lot in the latter stages of the campaign, and he admits he doesn’t think the Blues will need to be too active in the January transfer window.

“I think they’ll be looking (in the January transfer window) but will only bring in the right personnel at the right time and if it suits them,” said Johnson. “I don’t think they’ll go and break the bank, but they will look to strengthen if they can.

“You’d also have to ask the question, ‘which position will they look to strengthen?’ It’s hard to imagine which area as they are so strong all over the park.”

Johnson also thinks that Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku could top the scoring charts, although he recognised the Belgian has suffered his first sticky spell since returning to the club from Inter Milan.

He said: “I picked (Romelu) Lukaku to be top scorer at the start of the season, and he’ll play a big part in Chelsea scoring goals, although he is going through a cold spell and will be sidelined for a few games with injury. The top scorer is likely to come from a team who finishes in the top four, but there’s a few others it could be. Mohamed Salah and Jamie Vardy are always there too.”

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