Alan Shearer has delivered his verdict on Chelsea after a positive start from them to the Premier League season.

Overall, Chelsea should be satisfied with a decent opening few months to the 2024/25 campaign. Enzo Maresca has settled quickly into his role as the Blues manager and is getting some decent results.

Chelsea signed off for the international break on Sunday with a 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest, which puts them fourth in the Premier League table.

Speaking recently via Sky Sports, Moises Caicedo admitted Chelsea's target is a top-four finish this year. It feels like there's a cluster of clubs that will have a similar ambition, though.

"I think he's doing a good job Maresca because he's fighting a lot of fires there at Chelsea in terms of the size of the squad," Shearer told The Rest Is Football podcast.

"There's no doubt that they would have taken fourth after seven games. I don't expect them to challenge for the title. I haven't changed my mind on them. They could finish anywhere between fourth and eighth."

MORE CHELSEA STORIES

Judge Chelsea after next four league games Everyone is going to learn a lot more about this current Chelsea side in their four league fixtures straight after the international break.

The Blues have navigated their way through a decent set of matches to start the season, but things are soon about to ramp up.

On paper, Chelsea's upcoming games in the league look very challenging:

Liverpool vs Chelsea (20 October) Chelsea vs Newcastle United (27 October) Manchester United vs Chelsea (3 November) Chelsea vs Arsenal (10 November) If Chelsea pick up some wins and stay around the top four after the games above, then we can start talking about them as one of the favourites for the Champions League spots.

Maresca's side were beaten at home to Manchester City on the opening day of the league season, so it'll be interesting to see how they fare against the other top sides in the division.