TETCHY THOMAS HAS DIG AT ‘LUCKY’ ARSENAL
THOMAS TUCHEL was left ‘angry’ with his own team selection after Chelsea gave up vital ground in the top-four race last night. The German made seven changes ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final against Leicester and afterwards the Chelsea manager regretted his rotation. ‘I’m a bit angry that we had so many changes, that’s on me. I’m not so happy with the line-up,’ he said. ‘It was totally our fault, nobody else’s, we did everything today to lose.
We forgot to score at the other end and then scored an own goal, practically.’ Tuchel insisted it was ‘not a deserved win’ for Arsenal, claiming: ‘I don’t know how Arsenal would have scored if we didn’t give it to them ourselves. This was a totally lucky win and nobody can argue with that.’ But he nevertheless felt his side lacked their usual intensity and attitude, admitting he sensed something was up during training on Tuesday. he refused to expand on his comments but instead hopes this proves a ‘final wake-up call’ ahead of the Wembley showpiece clash with Leicester. ‘Maybe we deserved this today, we learned something,’ Tuchel added. ‘We were not with the same energy, hunger or attitude like we’re used to — so it’s on us.’ Tuchel was also unhappy with the failure of substitutes Callum hudson-Odoi and Olivier Giroud to seize their chance. Asked if it was hard for them to hit the ground running, he said: ‘It’s not hard, they’re professionals for Chelsea. It’s the opposite of hard, they have the best situation you can have as sports guys and footballers — and as a striker sometimes two minutes can change the whole life and the whole career. So it’s not hard. Not at all. I am sad because I thought maybe they could have made the magic touch today to help us to win.’ Curiously, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was also in combative mood despite clinching a rare double over Chelsea. The Spaniard, under pressure after a disappointing season, was angry at reports that he had questioned the commitment of his players. ‘Nothing is broken, inside nothing is broken,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how hard you are going to try from the outside but inside, no. They will try to put things on me that I never said. ‘You can see the spirit of the team from the first minute. You can never doubt their efforts and how much they try.’