Liverpool great Graeme Souness slammed Chelsea's players after defeat at Sheffield United.

Chelsea have already been busy ahead of the next transfer window opening, with attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech and striker Timo Werner set to join the club.

But Souness believes big work must be done at the other end of the pitch.

"Oh big time [there are wider concerns for Chelsea]," Souness said on Sky Sports. "We were talking about it before, they've now conceded 48 goals.

"Chelsea are making inroads in the transfer market for goal-getters and goalscorers - you won't be winning any big trophies if you're conceding 48 goals in a season. I'm sorry.

"You're putting a hell of a responsibility on the front end to be scoring how many goals if you're conceding anything like 48 goals.

"It's poor and I would think he's got major issues there.

"I said before the show, if you looked at the last 10-15 minutes against Palace, how Palace never scored in that period, they had them rocking.

"They've been rocking tonight, every time they go forward in numbers, Sheffield.

"They've got Chelsea panicking."