Thomas Tuchel said a combination of injuries, fatigue and Covid were behind Chelsea's faltering title bid as the Blues produced another lacklustre performance in the 1-1 Premier League draw at Brighton on Tuesday.
The European champions’ fading title hopes suffered another setback after Hakim Ziyech’s first-half opener was cancelled out by stand-in Albion skipper Adam Webster.
It extended Chelsea's run to just two wins in their last nine league games and left them 12 points off leaders Manchester City having been top themselves at the start of December.
Blues boss Tuchel once again bemoaned his club’s punishing schedule and now plans to give his players two days off ahead of Sunday’s home game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Asked to explain the recent poor league form, the German replied: “I answered this question a hundred times, if you look at our situation of long-term injuries, of key players injured, and of Covid and you look at our schedule you will have the answer.
“We are mentally tired and physically tired, you can see it in our performance, it’s as easy as that. We need to recharge the batteries, we need to reconnect.
“This is my feeling, that’s why I give the players two days off and then we will use Friday and Saturday to prepare for Sunday.”
Chelsea may soon be looking over their shoulders as the plethora of recent postponements have left top-four rivals Arsenal and Tottenham with games in hand in the battle for Champions League qualification.
Ziyech fired the Blues in front against the run of play with a low strike from distance but they could not prevent Brighton deservedly earning a point courtesy of a thumping 60th-minute header from Webster.
Tuchel – who guided his side to the Carabao Cup final this month with a two-legged semi-final victory over Spurs – insisted the performance and result at the Amex Stadium was not down to a lack of ambition.
“It’s very, very tough to play at Brighton and they played it like a cup game, the noise at the whistle at the end was like we lost the game and this can very easily give you the impression that we lost but we didn’t,” he said.
Brighton remain ninth following their 11th draw of a fruitful campaign in which they have lost just four times in the league.
Seagulls boss Graham Potter felt his side could have taken all three points with a little help from the “football gods”.
“We played with courage, with quality, intensity, everything you need to do against a top team,” he said.
“Sometimes the football gods are with you, sometimes they’re not, and you have to accept that but we gave ourselves a chance to win that, absolutely.”
