Chelsea must not 'panic', says Jamie Carragher, but they still need two more signings to remain competitive

Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Burnley and the red cards to Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas have left Chelsea facing something of an early-season crisis

Antonio Conte has been urged by Jamie Carragher not to panic ahead of the London derby against Tottenham (Getty)

Antonio Conte needs to “relax” ahead of this weekend’s Premier League London derby against Tottenham, as panicking will result in the same fate that met Jose Mourinho after he won the title with Chelsea, according to Jamie Carragher.

Conte has publicly voiced his alarm that he does not have enough players to defend the Premier League title that the club won last season as well as handle a return to Europe, with the Blues set to enter the Champions League in next month’s group stage.

Their title defence got off to the worst possible start, with the 3-2 defeat by Burnley compounded by red cards to Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas that will rule them out of this weekend’s clash with Spurs, while Eden Hazard and Pedro look set to miss out through injury.

With doubts already surfacing over their ability to retain the Premier League and their top goalscorer last season currently AWOL in Brazil in Diego Costa, it would be easy for the squad and management staff to start to panic. But Carragher stressed that Chelsea should not let last weekend’s result get to them, and he offered an opinion over what will get them back on track in order to avoid a repeat of the 2014/15 campaign that cost Mourinho his job – which followed a high-profile row with former club doctor Eva Caneiro.

"Chelsea need to do the exact opposite of panicking," Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football. "A couple of seasons ago when they drew with Swansea on the opening day and they had the incident with the club doctor, all of sudden it felt like Chelsea were under pressure. I felt like people were fanning the flames. The story was getting bigger and bigger until Jose Mourinho eventually lost his job.

"They've lost one game at home - they should be thinking now 'relax'.”

There’s no doubting that Chelsea’s squad are too light to challenge on both a domestic and European front, and Conte’s fears that the he doesn’t have a large enough squad are likely to result in the club delving into the transfer market before the 31 August deadline.

Carragher again has urged caution to the Blues though, and while he accepts that they are in need of strengthening despite the early arrivals of Willy Cabellero, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata for a combined £128m, the former Liverpool defender believes they only need two more players to be at the right competitive level.

"They've got two games between now and the transfer window shutting. Antonio Conte needs to get two players in - they need strengthening, especially in the wing-back positions,” Carragher added.

"They need to stop this tidal wave of negativity. The way Conte is speaking to the press you know something isn't right.

"That's got to stop. They've got to remember it's only one defeat and they've got to get their heads back on. As Conte has said, they don't want another Jose season."