Chelsea have a 'fundamental flaw in mentality', blasts Manchester United legend Gary Neville as fellow pundit Graeme Souness says Premier League champions are 'going backwards'

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Manchester United icon and Sky Sports pundit believes Chelsea have displayed a worrying change of mentality after they won the Premier League last season. 

The former defender blasted the English champions, claiming that their form is part of a larger, deep-rooted problem that rears its head whenever the Blues lift the trophy.

The Old Trafford icon found it staggering that Chelsea took their foot off the gas this summer and feels that lack of signings is an inexcusable reason for their lacklustre start to the campaign.

Chelsea have a 'fundamental flaw in mentality', according to Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville

Antonio Conte won the Premier League last term but have taken their foot off the gas this year

Neville called Chelsea's mentality shift 'unacceptable' and said they have 'self-harmed'

‘We gave a lot of praise to Chelsea and Antonio Conte last season and they deserved it,' Neville said on Sky Sports ahead of Chelsea's meeting with United. 

'However, the mentality shift is something I find unacceptable. Every time they win the league and do well we applaud them but then for some reason they seem to want to cause self-harm.

‘How you can be in that situation in the summer where you’re in turmoil when you’ve literally won the championship two weeks, three weeks, two months before is nonsense, absolute nonsense. I don’t know how it can happen time and time again [at Stamford Bridge].

‘There’s fundamental flaw in the mentality. It’s the mentality of once they win they think they’ve done it, they get carried away, they drop off. 

'They signed Bakayoko, they signed Rudiger, Morata, Drinkwater. How much is that? One hundred and twenty five-130 million pounds’ worth? I find it difficult to hear: "he hasn’t signed any players". That’s a lot of players, that’s a lot of money.’

Fellow Sky Sports expert Graeme Souness claimed that Antonio Conte's squad is weaker this season and they are going backwards compared to their league rivals.

Despite summer spending, fellow pundit Graeme Souness said it is not a happy ship at Chelsea

Souness believes the team looks weaker this season and Chelsea are now 'stagnating'

The former Liverpool enforcer said that from the outside looking in, Chelsea does not appear to be a 'happy ship'.

'When you look at the list of players they have now are they weaker than what they had last season? I think they are,' Souness said. 'He obviously didn’t get the players he wanted in the summer. 

'He’s like every other manager, he wants more and better players. If you aren’t improving you’re actually going backwards because everybody around you is buying players. Chelsea are stagnating a little bit.

‘It’s hard to second guess — we get whispers and little things — but from the outside it’s not a happy ship. For a football club to be successful you need everybody to be pulling in the same direction.’