Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has admitted their top-six status, is under threat by teams like Wolves this season.
While the Blues could not sign a player this summer because of a FIFA transfer ban, the Molineaux club invested over £80m, in a bid to try and improve on last season’s seventh-placed finish.
Everton, Leicester City and West Ham have also spent big, in a bid to close the gap on the traditional powerhouses of the English game.
Lampard’s young side are already seven points off the top spot, after conceding nine goals in their first four games.
And before Saturday’s trip to Molineux, the Chelsea boss said: “They (the other teams) should feel they have a chance. It was always going to be the way, particularly from our point of view.
“We always want to be competitive but we’re all very honest about the situation here. Eden (Hazard) moved on, and two number nines (Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain) moved on who were the number nines generally last season.
“Younger players are coming in. But that’s not just the story, because you look at teams that have invested heavily, Everton, West Ham, Leicester.
“Wolves were competing towards the top six so that’s challenging for all of us. We’ve seen it changing before our eyes.
“From a day when almost the top four you could probably write it down at the start of the season, certainly now you can’t. A top six you can’t write down.
“Because the playing field of what we have got now, where teams are investing heavily… You have to respect them.”
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