Thomas Tuchel described Chelsea’s fading title challenge as unacceptable ahead of their trip to Brighton.
So what now after yet more dropped points from his European champions, who have won just one of their last seven Premier League games?
To make matters worse, a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium flattered his side.
Had Brighton been more clinical in front of goal, they would have had more to show their efforts than Adam Webster’s second-half header that cancelled out Hakim Ziyech’s opener before the break.
Graham Potter’s side were the better team throughout – and they were the ones who looked likeliest to find a winner in the closing stages.
With Chelsea’s mid-season slump veering towards a crisis, Tuchel sent on £156million-worth of substitutes in Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Mateo Kovacic in a desperate attempt to turn the game, but it made no difference. That is typical of how it is going for the German right now.
The man who, at one time, could no wrong, is struggling to get much right as Chelsea’s season goes into freefall.
It is now three wins in 11 in the league for a team who were expected to mount a serious challenge to Manchester City and led the table by six points in November.
Compare that to Frank Lampard’s final days in charge, with his side winning two of their last eight before he was sacked a year ago. It still premature to talk of Tuchel in those terms – but Chelsea’s woeful league form cannot be ignored.
They may still be able to salvage the season as they continue to compete on all fronts in the cup competitions – but if their league slump is not arrested, then a place in the top four will be in serious doubt.
Arsenal and Tottenham, in particular, are poised to capitalise on their London rivals’ failings.
Spurs can move to within eight points of Chelsea if they beat Leicester on Wednesday, and can then cut that deficit to five with a win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday - with four games still in hand. Arsenal, meanwhile, are nine points behind having played three games fewer.
While that should be a concern to Tuchel, his priority is to rediscover any type of consistency from his team, who look exhausted mentally and physically.
They are making hard work of just about everything put in their way at the moment – and Brighton were no exception. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that they went in at the break ahead after Ziyech struck against the run of play in the 28th minute.
Brighton had dominated the early stages, Jakub Moder and Danny Welbeck working chances without testing Kepa Arrizabalaga. But all their good work was undermined when Ziyech struck - collecting N’Golo Kante’s pass on the edge of the box before drilling a low shot past Robert Sanchez.
What a strike! 💥
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 18, 2022
Hakim Ziyech’s powerful hit finds the bottom corner and gives Chelsea the lead 👊 pic.twitter.com/5VrjphG8tJ
Callum Hudson-Odoi should have doubled Chelsea’s lead just before the break when Romelu Lukaku played him in on the left of the box – but he fired high and wide.
Chelsea paid for that in the second-half with Brighton continuing to stretch them. Only the home side’s wasteful finishing denied them an equaliser sooner – but they were on level terms just after the hour when Webster’s thunderous header beat Arrizabalaga.
The Chelsea goalkeeper had just prevented Alexis Mac Allister from scoring when clawing away the midfielder’s deflected shot.
From the resulting corner, also from Mac Allister, Webster evaded attention with his run from deep and fired a powerful header into the top corner.
Brighton bite back! 🔥
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 18, 2022
Adam Webster bags his second goal of the season with an important header 💪 pic.twitter.com/iF70vR48ix
With time ticking down, Tuchel held off making a change, despite Brighton looking the likelier to score.
One run from Webster saw the defender career into the Chelsea box before his cross was cut out by Kepa. At the other end Antonio Rudiger played in Lukaku, whose shot on the angle was pushed wide by Sanchez.
Tuchel made a triple substitution with 10 minutes remaining, which only underlined his desperation.
But it was too little, too late – leaving the Chelsea manager left to pick up the pieces of yet another costly night.
