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Thomas Tuchel admitted Chelsea must improve after looking “drained and exhausted” in their 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, but praised his team’s defensive solidity following Hakim Ziyech’s late winner.
Ziyech’s 89th-minute strike meant the Moroccan has scored in three successive league games for the first time since doing so in the Eredivisie with Ajax in September 2019, and kept the London club within seven points of second-placed Liverpool in the Premier League table.
Chelsea were far from their best throughout the contest, however, managing just nine attempts on goal in the match, while striker Romelu Lukaku had seven touches of the ball, the lowest figure since Opta’s Premier League records began in 2003-04.
Speaking after the match, Tuchel conceded that Chelsea were not at their best at Selhurst Park, before hitting out at their congested fixture list.
“Every team will have games like this, especially between December, January and February, where the conditions can create adversity”, said the former Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain boss.
“If we had another draw, maybe we’d talk about this game longer, but when you win it you have the chance to move on and forget it.
“We won’t wake up tomorrow wondering what we could do better.
“We look a bit drained and exhausted. Everyone is giving their very best, but we are struggling a little bit, so it’s important to win and keep going.”
The victory came in Chelsea’s first Premier League outing for almost a month, having featured in the FA Cup and lifted the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi since a 2-0 win over Tottenham on 23rd January, and Tuchel was blunt when asked for his thoughts on his team’s congested fixture list.
“I am a big fan of quality and not quantity”, he responded.
“We didn’t play Premier League for four weeks and there is a huge mix of a lot of reasons why I didn’t expect [much] performance-wise.
“I know we can play better and want to play better, [but] we were solid defensively.
“I will not give in and tell you today that it’s not possible to catch them [Manchester City and Liverpool]. There is no other way but to improve our game, improve our style, and to win game after game after game.
“There is no need to look at Liverpool, Man City or anyone. We have enough to deal with and enough to improve.”
