Chelsea lacked focus against Arsenal which is very unusual, says Thomas Tuchel

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has expressed his disappointment and frustration following the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in the recent Premier League encounter. Tuchel cited a lack of energy, intensity and concentration as the key factors behind the loss. The Blues were beaten courtesy of Emile Smith Rowe’s early opener. Rowe capitalised on a mix-up between Jorginho and Kepa Arrizabalaga in possession, resulting in the goal being conceded. Christian Pulisic further had a goal disallowed before both Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud rattled the crossbar within seconds of each other.

Tuchel made seven changes to the line-up from the weekend win at Manchester City. However, the Chelsea manager admitted that the same might have been too many.

“We all lacked concentration and focus today, which is very unusual. 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,” he said as quoted by Chelsea’s official website.

“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,” added Tuchel.

“We were not sharp enough”

The Chelsea manager criticised his players for gifting Arsenal an easy goal.

“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,” he said.

“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,” concluded Tuchel.

It will be interesting to see if Chelsea can bounce back from the defeat.