Tuchel frustrated by draw at Elland Road
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel felt his side created enough chances to have taken all three points in the draw at Leeds.
Both sides hit the crossbar in the first half and both goalkeepers were forced into several decisive saves in an unrelenting game which ebbed and flowed.
The Blues extended their unbeaten Premier League run to 10 matches – 12 in all competitions – since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard in January.
But the German said: “I think we could have won exactly the same game. We created enough chances, enough shots, enough touches to score one or two goals.
“Unfortunately and obviously, we did not, so we have to live with a draw, but yes, at the same time it was a difficult pitch, very difficult conditions, very slippery, very bouncy.
“But we accept all the difficulties in an away game against a team that puts a lot of pressure on you.”
The closest Chelsea came to scoring was when Leeds defender Luke Ayling’s first-half clearance rebounded off teammate Diego Llorente and struck the bar.
Leeds hit the woodwork soon after through Tyler Roberts’ deft chip, which Edouard Mendy brilliantly turned on to the bar.
But Tuchel believed his side had held the ascendancy, adding: “We found many situations where we could escape the pressure, where we had high recoveries of the ball. But we were not clinical enough on the counter-attacks, our precision or the last touch.”
With both sides intent on a razorsharp press, it made for a helter-skelter opening 20 minutes.
Leeds had an early Roberts effort chalked off for offside, before both goalkeepers had their respective crossbars rattled.
Leeds were dealt a blow 10 minutes before half-time when Patrick Bamford limped out of the action and was replaced by Rodrigo.
Clear-cut chances were limited and the first period ended goalless, but the pace of the game remained unrelenting. Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier saved well from Christian Pulisic soon after the restart as Chelsea probed and applied the pressure.
Ayling did enough to deny Kai Havertz a clean header and N’Golo Kante made a mess of his effort inside the area.
But Leeds held firm and after swarming forward themselves went close to taking the lead when Mendy flung out a hand to keep out Raphinha’s shot.
Ben Chilwell failed to keep his shot on target after charging into the area and
at the other end Pulisic blocked Raphinha’s effort. With 20 minutes left, Meslier turned away Antonio Rudiger’s long-range effort.
Llorente’s goalbound shot was deflected off target by James and the Spain defender’s header was saved following another corner.
Substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi’s angled drive, after nifty footwork in the area, was the last effort on target and comfortably gathered by Meslier.
Leeds fell one game short of setting a new club record of 19 successive league games without a draw, their previous one coming back in November – 0-0 against Arsenal.
Boss Marcelo Bielsa was satisfied with his side’s performance, despite failing to score for a third straight match.
He said: “Evidently we played against a team superior to ours. We did what was necessary to play a balanced game. At the end of the game, the chances of both teams were similar. It’s true the superiority they showed in the first half was superior to what we showed in the second half.
“But to be able to play a game like we did, we had to make an enormous effort.”
Bielsa confirmed skipper Liam Cooper had missed out through illness and that he had not checked on Bamford.
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