Thomas Tuchel bemoaned Chelsea’s fitness issues after his team were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Everton, saying it was the ‘big difference’ separating them from title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.
Mason Mount scored his fourth goal in as many league matches to put Chelsea in front in the 70th minute at Stamford Bridge, but Everton found a quick equaliser through Jarrad Branthwaite.
Jordan Pickford was outstanding between the sticks and had earlier denied Pulisic, Reece James, Jorginho and three efforts from Mount while the score was still goalless in west London.
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Thiago Silva also had a late header kept out by the goalkeeper and Chelsea players were met with a chorus of boos at full-time as their title charge suffered a huge setback.
The result means the Blues trail leaders Man City by four points in the table, while Liverpool beat Newcastle in Thursday’s other match to stay within a point of the reigning champions.
‘It was the the same story against Burnley and almost the same story then against Leeds where we escaped with three points with a late penalty,’ Tuchel told beIN SPORTS after the draw.
‘It’s a bit of the same story today. We put in a huge effort for one goal and the opponent puts in a minimum effort for the same amount of goals so you end up with a bad result.’
Asked what was missing in Chelsea’s performance, the German coach replied: ‘We played a very good first half, we had enough chances to be minimum two goals ahead, we were not and it made our lives difficult.
‘Then we finally scored and, like in the last four or five games, we cannot keep the lead, we lose the lead again and I don’t know why at the moment.
‘It’s just a fact and if a fact repeats itself like five times, we need to accept it and we cannot look away from it. ‘We get punished for not a lot, but we get punished in consecutive games.’
Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell – already sidelined with a knee injury – tested positive for Covid-19 before the game and could not be considered for Everton game.
Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic were also ruled out of the match through illness, with fitness issues stacking up ahead of a busy winter period – should matches go ahead as planned amid a rise in cases of the Omicron variant.
Tuchel suggested Chelsea’s growing list of unavailable players was what separated them from their rivals. He said: ‘The big difference is that City and Liverpool have no injured players.
‘We have like six or seven players out, this can happen and you need the whole squad to be competitive and if not we struggle. ‘It’s not a problem, but we have to accept it. Totally unnecessary today, but it happens to us in the moment.’
