Stamford Bridge pitch is difficult to play on – Chelsea boss Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel has blamed the state of Chelsea’s pitch for the Blues leaking two costly goals at Stamford Bridge in recent weeks.
Tuchel moved to protect Andreas Christensen after his under-hit back-pass gifted Eddie Nketiah Arsenal the opening goal in Arsenal’s 4-2 Premier League win at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Edouard Mendy’s scuffed pass sold Antonio Rudiger short against Real Madrid on April 6, allowing Karim Benzema to tap in to complete his hat-trick in the Blues’ 3-1 Champions League quarterfinal first-leg defeat on home soil.
Christensen was withdrawnathalf-timeonWednesday but Blues boss Tuchel insisted the Denmark defenderwasreplacedbyThiagoSilva due to injury, before claiming that the Stamford Bridge turf is causing problems for his players.
“Andreas said he could not continue so I think he had some problems and that’s why,” said Tuchel.
“I don’t take a player off because he makes one mistake.
“I have to also say the pitch is difficult to play here. Maybe it sounds like an excuse but it is a very difficult pitch that we have here and it’s not in our favour.
“The ball bounced very awkwardly in front of Andreas when he tried to play this ball and we also had the same mistake against Real Madrid thatcostusintheChampions League.”
ChelseatoppledEuropean giants Real 3-2 at the Bernabeu Stadium in the quarterfinalsecondlegbutstillexited theChampionsLeague5-4on aggregate. The Blues’ loss to Arsenal set an unwanted run ofthreehomedefeatsinarow inallcompetitionsforthefirst time since 1993.
Chelsea have leaked 11 goals across those three defeats, firstly in a 4-1 reverse at the hands of Brentford after the latest international break before the Real and Arsenal games.
Nketiah bagged a brace on Wednesday,withEmileSmith Rowe slotting a smart finish and Bukayo Saka converting a late penalty.
Chelsea twice equalised in the first half through Timo Werner and captain Cesar Azpilicueta, but the Blues were unable to raise the tempo or the quality after the interval.TheBluesremainthird inthetableandstillinfullcontroloftheirdestinyasregards qualifying for next term’s Champions League.