Tuchel plays down Chelsea’s bad patch

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Thomas Tuchel played down the significance of Chelsea again dropping points.

They could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to a depleted Everton side, leaving them four points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.

It continued a poor recent run for the European champions – and their recent propensity to concede goals after going ahead.


Mason Mount scored for the fourth consecutive Premier League game to put them in front with 20 minutes remaining, but Jarrad Branthwaite equalised four minutes later after connecting with Anthony Gordon’s left-wing free-kick.

But Blues boss Tuchel insisted it could easily have been a comfortable win for his team and suggested it was important not to read too much into recent slip-ups.

He said: “We have to be careful now. It would be easy now to point the finger and say ‘It happens again’.

“We have a huge chance to sit here talking about a 3-0 win and how impressive we were when we were missing so many players.

“It’s a huge possibility (that could have happened) because it was one free-kick and we got punished again.

“If we look back it seems that it happens too often. We need to consider that sometimes in looking back we can make mistakes in analysing and finding patterns which are maybe not there.

“I’m not sure why we get punished like this. I see teams concede much more chances than we do. We conceded absolutely nothing and still it’s a draw.

“I think we had a huge possibility to sit here with a 3-0 for us and it would have been a fair result. We have got punished for not a lot.

“But you can be sure we will not look away. The dressing room is very disappointed and I am very disappointed of course.”

Chelsea were without a recognised striker, with Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz all absent.

Lukaku, Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi were unavailable after testing positive for Covid-19 along with Ben Chilwell, who in any case is out with a knee injury.

Havertz is unwell and awaiting results of a follow-up test after initially testing negative for Covid.

Christian Pulisic led the attack, supported by Hakim Ziyech and Mount.

Tuchel’s lack of attacking options were underlined when, with 11 minutes remaining and Chelsea chasing a winner, he sent on Trevoh Chalobah.

“With Trevoh there’s maybe a goal from a set-piece because he is very strong at set-pieces,” Tuchel explained.

“We were taking decisions and doing the best in the situation.”