Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James has refused to blame Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic for the club's struggles this season.
Begovic's run in the starting eleven, in place of the injured Thibaut Courtois, has coincided with a horrible run of form for the Blues which has left them struggling at 16th position in the table.
Jose Mourinho's side also have the third worst defensive record this season after conceding 23 goals in their opening 12 games.
When asked if Chelsea's struggles are due to the presence of Begovic, the former England international said: "No.
"If you look at Courtois last season there were a number of occasions when he conceded a lot of goals. I thought last season they controlled the Premier League very well.
"The situation with Begovic is there's been so many changes in front of him. And if you look at Courtois at the beginning of the season, I don't think he had any clean sheets.
"So it wasn't a goalkeeping situation, it was to do with the team set-up perhaps."
