Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City: Match Statistics
Thomas Tuchel’s winning machine has stalled at the worst of times.
Chelsea have now suffered one after the other defeat during the German’s short tenure and its effects could be disastrous.
After losing 1–0 at home to Arsenal on Wednesday night, which doubted their hopes of ending up in the top four of the Premier League, the Blues were beaten by the same scoreline in Saturday’s FA Cup final with Leicester.
Youri Tielemans decided a dramatic encounter with a surprise strike from afar, which would enter Fox folklore, as he lifted the trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
Chelsea’s possession was dominating, yet there was no clear opening until a frantic finale.
In fact, Leicester, roaring through a raucous atmosphere generated by those few fans lucky enough to gain entry into the stadium, grew into the game and had good value for their goal, which came in the 63rd minute.
With his team looking mortal again, Tuchel had no choice but to abandon his principles and break into the closing stages.
After reaching deep into his squad, he made five replacements with Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell.
The latter saved the game against his former club, as the full-back surged into the area and forced a goal from Wes Morgan in the final minute of normal time.
However, VAR intervened, deciding that Chilwell was offside when he hit the ball wide on the left-hand side.
That disallowed goal further added to Chelsea’s disappointment and disappointment. He has been upbeat, strong and relaxed in recent weeks following a sensational form that propelled him to fourth place in the Premier League and the Champions League final.
Now, after this nightmare week, they are looking weak again. And they will need to quickly overcome their misery before a crunch Premier League clash with Leicester finishing third at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
As far as the club was concerned at the start of the season, Champions League qualification was minimal and it was Tuchel’s mission statement to replace Frank Lampard in January.
However, the FA Cup defeat simultaneously devastated Chelsea and boosted their confidence ahead of Fox’s trip to West London.
Hopefully, it will re-focus Chelsea. Players were forced to watch Leicester celebrate wildly at the end of the game, so they should, in theory, fire a gun for immediate revenge on Tuesday.
Having moved the club from 10th place to fourth place since its arrival, as well as two finals, it will be hard to criticize Tuchel for allowing his side to unstuck this week.
However, if the former Paris Saint-Germain coach fails to bring Chelsea to next season’s Champions League, ownership could look unfavorable to him.
Chelsea need to ensure that they do not advance to their next final on 29 May, needing to win it to qualify for next season’s competition.
How they respond to this double shock is important because Tuchel’s team sits on a fine line between sudden success and failure.
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