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Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel told reporters he is not interested in Liverpool’s hunt for a quadruple this season, and also gave credit to Timo Werner for finding form after the Blues’ 2-0 FA Cup win against Crystal Palace.
Against Crystal Palace, Chelsea controlled throughout, with 67 per cent possession and double the amount of shots, but did not break the deadlock until the 65th minute through Ruben Loftus-Cheek, before Mason Mount doubled the advantage in the 76th minute.
With the win, they earned a spot in the FA Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley on May 14. It is Chelsea’s third consecutive season making the final, losing 2-1 to Arsenal in 2020, and losing 1-0 against Leicester City in 2021.
Liverpool is still alive in the Premier League and Champions League, and beat Chelsea on penalties in the Carabao Cup, but Tuchel was not interested in discussing their potentially history-making season.
“I don’t care about [Liverpool’s] other titles,” he said.
“Of course, we lost a [Carabao Cup] final [to Liverpool]. We gave everything in that final, as you know, until the very last penalty.
“We were unlucky and lost. We want to turn things around, but it will not give us the Carabao Cup title back.
“We were in the FA Cup final last season and we’re here again, it means unbelievably a lot to us.
“We will be well-prepared against one of the strongest teams in the world, who are in outstanding form given their results… it will be a tough one, [but] we will try to make life hard for them.”
Tuchel also touched on the improving form of his striker after a slow start to the season, and his Chelsea career in general.
“We had a bit of a change in formation up front, so he played against Southampton, and [Werner] played alongside Kai [Havertz], with Mason [Mount] and Mateo Kovacic around him,” he said.
“He likes that a lot, and has a good connection with them, so that was maybe the turnaround point for him.
“He scored and had big chances. He was decisive in Madrid, and could have been the hero with the third goal, but unfortunately not. But he was involved; he scored, was involved, created chances and spaces, and did again today.
“It was very hard to find spaces today and be decisive, but he assisted the second goal. Timo at the moment is a huge part [and deserves his place] in the team.”
