Thomas Tuchel has bizarrely blamed Chelsea’s own Stamford Bridge pitch for last night’s defeat to Arsenal.
The Gunners arrived at the Bridge with their top four hopes hanging by a thread after a dismal run of three successive Premier League defeats, against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton.
However, Mikel Arteta’s side returned to form with a ruthless performance in which they punished Chelsea errors to run out 4-2 winners to move level on points with rivals Tottenham.
Tuchel was left furious and in particular blamed the surface for its part in Eddie Nketiah’s opening goal, which the Englishman scored after pouncing on an undercut pass from Andreas Christensen.
“To say that the pitch is difficult to play here is maybe sounds like an excuse but it is a very, very difficult pitch that we have here,” Tuchel said.
“It is not to our favour. The ball bounces very, very awkwardly in front of Andreas [Christensen] when he wants to play this ball.
“But still, we had the same mistake against Real Madrid that cost us the Champions League next round, this one cost us the next match, I cannot remember when we got a goal like this.”
