Chelsea suffered their eighth loss of the 2020-21 Premier League season, going down 0-1 to Arsenal at home on Wednesday night.
The Blues could have secured a top-four finish by beating the Gunners but after this defeat, their destiny still hangs in the balance and they still need to win their remaining games to ensure Champions League qualification.
Chelsea have been one of the best sides in Europe in the past couple of months but scoring goals has been one of their main issues under Thomas Tuchel and this problem once again came to the forefront against Arsenal.
The North London side took the lead in the 16th minute thanks to an error from Jorginho but Chelsea, themselves, managed only five shots on target. This despite Arsenal playing on the back foot for almost all of the match.
And speaking after the match, Thomas Tuchel was really candid as he went on to explain why his side failed to overturn a one-goal deficit.
‘We all lacked concentration and focus today, which is very unusual,’ he told the press after the match.
‘Maybe I also gave some signals to the team with the changes that Saturday [FA Cup final] is on my mind, and even if it’s only one per cent, this is not how we approach things because you get punished.
‘We cannot be naive in this race for top four so now we suffer from another defeat. It’s hard to swallow but there’s no other way.
‘It’s totally our fault, nobody else’s, it’s totally our responsibility. We had huge chances, we made more or less an own goal, a total gift and we could not score from our biggest chances, but overall we were not sharp enough.
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‘It was not easy to come up with a big intensity in passing because they defended 5-4-1 very deep all around the box but we were not sharp enough and did not have the same energy, hunger or attitude as usual.
‘We could not put up the same intensity and energy as usual so maybe it was too many changes from the last match and I take full responsibility also for that. Maybe it’s the last wake-up call for all of us.’
Chelsea have been rock solid in defence under Thomas Tuchel but scoring goals has been their achilles heal. Ever since the new manager has come into the fold, the Blues have managed to score only 22 goals in 17 Premier League.
As soon as the Gunners took the lead they chose to sit back deep and defend their slender lead and despite massive possession stats and big superstars on the pitch, Chelsea rarely managed to trouble Bernd Leno.
Chelsea will now have to quickly get over this defeat since they have a really important FA Cup final against Leicester City coming up and Tuchel will have to make sure that his side does not make the same mistakes as they did on Wednesday.
