Paulo Wanchope: Chelsea only club that can challenge City and Liverpool

In the second part of an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes: Fanzone, Paulo Wanchope talked about Manchester City, Erling Haaland and the club that could test the champions and Liverpool in the Premier League this season.

You can read part one by clicking on the link.

Chelsea are the only side who can challenge City and Liverpool for title

Liverpool’s start to the season has been of real surprise to me. Maybe it’s the injuries they’re dealing with, or something else, but they’re not playing well at the moment. Manchester United had a really bad start but have since won four in a row, Arsenal have just faced their first defeat of the season and Manchester City have dropped points. It’s all so close at the moment, but as the season progresses, I’m convinced normal service will resume and the stronger teams will be up there.

We’ve seen such dominance from Manchester City and Liverpool over the last few years, and for me there’s only one team who I think can sustain a real title challenge this season aside from those two: Chelsea.

I’m expecting Chelsea to improve in the coming weeks. Tottenham will be up there in the top four as well, but Chelsea are the only ones who can challenge Liverpool and Man City. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s arrival is only going to help with that as well. He’s exactly the kind of player they need if they’re to think about winning the title.

Peter Schmeichel always used to tell me ‘I made you famous!’

Of course, there’s one goal from my career which gets brought up a lot because of the significance at the time. I was playing for Derby County away at Manchester United. We’d already gone one up when the ball came to me in my own half. I carried it past something like four players and finished it past Peter Schmeichel in goal to put us 2-0 up.

It was a special feeling for me because Old Trafford was one of the biggest arenas in football and it was my debut for Derby. Being able to play against players like Eric Cantona and Schmeichel was incredible. If I’m being honest with you, I spent most of the warm-up for that game literally just watching United’s player. When we were in the tunnel, I was just looking at all of those big players.

Everything was too quick for me in the opening 10-15 minutes because I couldn’t calm down, but eventually I managed to focus on the game and exactly what I needed to do, and that was when the ball came to me. The strange thing about that game in particular was that I wasn’t playing up front, I was out on the right, which is why I ended up in my own half in the first place. Then I just ran with it, kept going and the rest was history!

And then a few years later, of course, Peter was my team-mate at Manchester City. It was funny because he would always say “I made you famous” because of that goal. To this day, I’ve always had a great relationship with him and we’re always in contact. He was a great professional. To have him in your dressing room and to train with him day in, day out, someone who has won everything at the highest level, was a great learning experience for me and the rest of the Man City players.

Alfie Haaland was ‘crazy’, but always tried to get the ball…not injure players

I played in that now-famous game where Roy Keane got a red card for his challenge on Alfie [Haaland]. I saw the challenge. At first I didn’t know anything about the history between those two players; afterwards I found out! It was something which was sad to see, but it’s one of those things that happens in football. I don’t know whether they’ve forgotten about that incident or whether they still have a problem with each other.”

Alfie was a great competitor, his desire to win every single ball sometimes meant that he’d sometimes come across as crazy, but that was his style, and at that time that was just how the Premier League was and he fitted the division perfectly. Nowadays I’d imagine if he was playing he’d end up getting a lot of red cards! It was always about the desire to win the ball; never to injure the player, tough. He was just so committed to the game. He’s one of the hardest players I ever played with.

Can Man City still strengthen? Haaland needs to continue to adapt

Manchester City have brought in arguably the best striker in the world, but for sure, they will constantly be looking at what they’re missing in other areas of the pitch. They have such a strong squad, but you should be learning new things about your side in every game, and sometimes that includes things like identifying areas to strengthen.

It’s very difficult to find a weakness in that squad, and while Erling Haaland is a top, top striker, his style of play is different. He will be learning all the time and I would expect his overall game to improve a lot this season under Pep Guardiola. He’s a top scorer, but there’s more to come from him, and I think he’ll improve even more.

There’s a huge expectation on Haaland in England and he’s hit the ground running, but at a club like Man City, there’s a style in which they play which he needs to continue to adapt to. We know for sure that he is going to score bags of goals, but I think the biggest thing everyone wants to see is how he will link up with his team-mates and City’s style over the course of the season.