Chelsea
increased their unbeaten run to 14 games with a 3-0 win over Tottenham,
leading to suggestions that they might match the feats of the 2003-04
Arsenal 'Invincibles' side who won the title without losing a single game.
Former Manchester City defender Howey told Sky Sports HQ the loss of
defender Vincent Kompany with a hamstring injury was a telling blow for
City, who did not have the same depth of defensive talent to draw on as
rivals Chelsea.
“I think that if you win the league you’ve got to be the first or second
team (in terms of a) very good record defensively, but to win the league
you’ve got to be good all over, it’s as simple as that,” Howey said.
“If you take Kompany out of Manchester City’s defence, I think they’re still
not ideally strong, whereas you look at Chelsea’s and, for me, you could
take one of them out but you could replace them, because they’re that
strong.”
Former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn, who was part of that acclaimed
2003-04 unbeaten side, praised Chelsea’s success but said talk of a perfect
season was premature.
“I think you have to get deep into a season to start looking at records and
trying to emulate what Arsenal have achieved, but there’s no doubt that at
this moment in time we’re looking at a very, very powerful and well
organised Chelsea team,” he said.
“They’re going to be very hard to catch if they continue in this form."
Winterburn pointed out that injuries and suspension could put a dent in
Chelsea’s record, but said the current attacking form of Chelsea put them
above the frest of the Premier League pack.
“Usually you would think about Chelsea being very, very disciplined
defensively, nicking the odd goal, but with Hazard, Oscar, Fabregas in the
team, Costa scoring goals– they are an exciting team to watch," he added.
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