Rio Ferdinand brands Kyle Walker a ‘liability at the top level’ in leaked off-air comments accidentally aired during Chelsea's win over Manchester City

BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand branded Manchester City defender a “liability at the top level” in off-air comments accidentally circulated during Saturday’s shock 2-0 defeat against Chelsea.

Ferdinand was reviewing footage of the first half at Stamford Bridge alongside retired Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole and former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha when he singled out Walker’s positioning in the lead-up to N’Golo Kante’s opening goal for criticism.

The comments were not intended for broadcast, but one Twitter user watching the match on a stream managed to catch them and subsequently shared them on social media.

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“Look at Kyle Walker, sleeping,” Ferdinand said as he and Cole watched a replay of Chelsea’s first goal, during which Willian managed to steal a march on the City right-back. “Look at Kyle Walker.

“That's why England – if he plays - he'll always be a liability at the top level.”

Ferdinand did not intend for his criticism of Walker to be aired (Getty)

Cole replied: “I'm with you. I'm not saying that though because his mate comes to the gym!

“Everyone talks about this Man City team being perfect, they’re not perfect. They will gift you that. They will give you that quick attack because Kyle Walker is playing as a winger.”

Ferdinand then said: “You always know that you will get an opportunity against them, but you have to be clinical like they were today. If you've got the b*******.”

Cole rounded off the analysis by concluding: “And that's why the good teams can hurt them because they've got players like [Eden] Hazard who can find that pass, but they get away with it against other teams.”

Chelsea took the lead well against the run of play when Kante fired past Ederson after a dominant City had been caught out by a rapid counter-attack, and David Luiz sealed Pep Guardiola’s first Premier League defeat of the season when he rose highest to nod in Hazard’s inviting corner in the second half.

The result saw Liverpool leapfrog City to end the weekend on top of the table by a single point, while Chelsea kept Arsenal at bay in fourth place while closing to within eight points of the leaders.