Thomas Tuchel has admitted he would like an extra day to prepare for the FA Cup final against Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp's side have the benefit of additional 24 hours of recuperation and preparation as they face Aston Villa on Tuesday night before the Blues make the trip to Leeds the following day.
Chelsea and Liverpool will both have completed 63 matches before the season is over, with Chelsea only not playing in the final and semi-final of the Champions League but enjoying UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup success. The Reds will play in every match they could hope to by the time the season is done.
The Blues' schedule was a consequence of last season's success and has been a talking point over the course of a season that has been disrupted by COVID-19, while Chelsea's trip to the UAE ensured Tuchel's side had a relentless fixture list from December through February. In short, it's not been rare for Chelsea to have less time on the training pitch than their opponents.
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"We're used to it," said Tuchel. "We're used to it. We'll not comment on it.
"Well, what is it, I'm always confused lately with the days. Tuesday to Saturday and Wednesday to Saturday, of course we'd love to have one more day but it has to be enough for us."
Going into the weekend's match with Wolves was one of the few moments of 2021/22 the Blues had a full week of training to prepare. While Chelsea showed some dominance to go 2-0 up thanks to goals from Romelu Lukaku, Tuchel's side struggle to sustain their performance for the whole 90 minutes and ended up drawing the match. The German coach was left frustrated by the Blues' inability to stick to the gameplan.
The team were called in to training on Sunday, not as punishment but to discuss how to approach the coming days and to talk about the draw. Tuchel retains full trust in his squad in a bid to end the season on a positive note.
Tuchel said: “We look a bit drained, tired mentally. When we look at our games from the sideline, this is understandable given the circumstances around the club in which we play, it is draining, it is challenging. We had some knockout games to play after the international break, with huge emotional input, and huge emotions to deal with.
"From losing to Real Madrid, winning at Real Madrid, losing the Champions League then suddenly being at Wembley and then suddenly in the race in two weeks with four matches against different teams in the Premier League. It is quite challenging. After all, we have a lot of matches in our legs, in our bones.
"We feel it. It’s another reason. I think everybody knows it, we can even feel it and still with being tired, distracted, maybe concerned, we need to reach a certain level which is possible. We can do better than we did in the last two matches. The positive thing is that I feel the will, the motivation.
"The motivation was very high to turn things around against Wolverhampton. You see the physical input was maybe too high in some situations where we even attacked with defenders, very high on the pitch, and opened space in counter-attacks. It was not a lack of motivation, it was the opposite. There were good signs. We trust the team, we trust our players and trust what brought us here. Now is the moment for me to stay calm, take it step by step and finish the season on a positive note.”
