Chelsea’s penultimate game of the 2021/22 Premier League season ended in a 1-1 draw against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge.
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Thomas Tuchel’s post-match press conference after Chelsea’s penultimate game of the Premier League season ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge.
With the Blues’ place in the top four already secured, it was an opportunity for the players to play without the same pressure that has been on them for much of the campaign.
That didn’t result in a free-flowing performance against a Foxes’ side that sat in deep.
It was Leicester who took the lead when James Maddison whipped a fine shot from 20 yards beyond Edouard Mendy after poor defending from both Marcos Alonso and Antonio Rudiger.
It was the former that got Chelsea level as he volleyed home an excellent pass from Reece James.
The Blues had chances to win the game in the second period; the best of which fell to Christian Pulisic.
Romelu Lukaku teed up the American, but from ten years out, he managed to skew his effort wide, and with that, Tuchel’s side was forced to settle for a point.
We are in position to get the full post-match thoughts of Tuchel from Stamford Bridge.
We’ll have a full transcript on the website shortly.
He can make the difference but he can only make the difference on the pitch and at the top level, this is our target for him.
He is one of the very best midfielders in the world.
Because he is not in the spotlight, he is even more important of the team.
He has the mentality of a water carrier and this makes the difference.
Last year, I think in the last five matches of the Champions League they handed him the trophy.
I think they handed it to him even before the match.
I don’t play him but it’s a fact we miss him a lot and he brings something unqiue in world football.
I think he is our key, key player but key, key players have to be on the pitch and he only plays 40% of games.
We needed a goal from a wing-back and an assist from a wing-back.
We didn’t allow any chances, got punished by a shot from outside the box.
We created enough to win, didn’t allow transition and chances for Leicester.
It’s a bit of a broken record: we did not take what we deserve.
Thank you for joining us here at Stamford Bridge for Thomas Tuchel’s penultimate pre-season press conference of the season.
We’ll bring you the Chelsea head coach’s reaction to tonight’s 1-1 draw against Leicester City and more ahead of the Blues’ final game of the campaign.