Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has expressed concern over his side’s Premier League top four bid after they were held to a goalless draw by relegation-threatened Brighton and Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
It can also be recalled that they lost 5:2 to relegation-threatened West Brom at the same venue some weeks back. Brighton went a man down in the closing stages of the game but held on for a precious point.
It can be said that the Blues were lucky on the night as Ben White wasted the best chances of the game and Tuchel had no choice but to point out that his side were lucky. He added that the Blues will now have to fight for a top-four place the hard way.
“I fear I will never be pleased with a point at Stamford Bridge,” said Tuchel. “It was clearly our target to win the home match, even if we knew it’s a tough one.
“I was a bit concerned about the physical impact of travelling of Porto and Man City.
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“But we decided to let the team play with not so many changes between Porto and Man City.
“Today we had enough changes to be a bit fresher.
“Maybe we lacked one day in between matches to be a bit more relaxed, to be a bit fresher. But we have to admit also there were huge distractions on our game.
“Given all the circumstances, we are clearly not happy but have to accept we did not deserve more today, which was maybe for the first time.
“We will see if it’s in our hands for the top four.
“We missed chances in our two home matches which worries me a little bit, but that’s how it is and we have to keep on going.
“Brighton were very strong, a very underrated team.
“They have a lot of quality, unique style of playing, difficult to create chances against them, they almost man-mark across the whole pitch.
“That created problems for us, and we could not find the answers. And we were a bit tired mentally and physically.”
