Manchester: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes that Chelsea's poor run of results are primarily due to the club's inability to bring in adequate replacements following departures of senior players during the summer.
Michael Ballack, Juliano Belletti, Ricardo Carvalho and Joe Cole left the west London club during the summer, while Yossi Benayoun and Ramires were brought in as new recruits.
The Blues have now gone five games without a victory in the Premier League, and are set to clash with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
"Ballack's contract came to an end," Ferguson said, according to The Guardian. "Belletti's contract came to an end. They have been replacing these players with younger ones such as [Danny] Sturridge and the young boy [Josh] McEachran. So maybe that's why their results have been erratic. Their plan was always to start introducing younger players and I think that's a good thing but it can backfire if you get injuries."
The Scot also took a pop at the Blues' relatively small squad, as United in comparison have a larger squad that could arguably cope better with injuries.
He said: "You need big squads these days because the number of matches and the intensity of matches does produce injuries. There's no question that having a big squad helps."
The 68-year-old also believes his side possesses an advantage in terms of experience and the desire to win matches, particularly the big ones.
"We've got good players and they have all had big-game experience for years now. It's not as if it is new to them," he said.
"Their experience is very important and the desire is still there with this club. All our players have good desire to win matches."
Despite all this, United have failed to win at Stamford Bridge in recent years, but Ferguson intends to break the hoodoo.
He said: "We used to have a terrific record at Chelsea. We haven't won there for eight years, correct.. but it's a big game for us and we'll be ready for it. We couldn't get there sooner."
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