Chelsea’s woes continued after the Blues went down against relegation threatened Everton at Goodison Park. The Toffees won 1-0 thanks to Richarlison pouncing on an Azpilicueta blunder to earn 3 vital points for his team. Moreover, Chelsea have now been dragged down in the top four battle as fourth placed Arsenal sit just three points behind them. Furthermore, only 5 points separate Chelsea and fifth placed Tottenham with 4 games to go. Everton manager Frank Lampard earned his redemption after Chelsea sacked him 16 months ago.
However, Chelsea’s loss has invited many questions to be asked. While Chelsea were down 1-0 and in need of an equalizer, the stage was set for Romelu Lukaku to haunt his former club. However, Thomas Tuchel didn’t bring on the striker which raised doubts. The manager has now cleared his stance over the Belgian. Meanwhile, Frank Lampard has broken a longstanding record of Chelsea in the process.
End of road for Lukaku with Tuchel?
Thomas Tuchel gave his explanation on why he opted against bringing Lukaku on. However, the manager’s comments were quite bewildering over Lukaku not playing. Tuchel said, “Because we brought Jorginho off. We only had three changes”. But Tuchel had already brought on Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech, where everybody thought Lukaku should have been the one to come on. This may indicate that Tuchel has completely lost his faith in the £97 million signing.
Moreover, with Kai Havertz struggling in that number 9 role after hitting a purple patch, Tuchel still benched Lukaku for him. This adds fuel to the fire to the speculation that has Tuchel given up on Lukaku? The striker too looked upset as Lampard and his boys enjoyed their victory against Chelsea. As the season is nearing its end, Tuchel will have to address this situation with their record signing. Nonetheless, the change in the ownership could influence the matter as well.
Lampard shatters a Chelsea record
Frank Lampard got better of his former club Chelsea as Everton received huge boost after the win. The Toffees are fighting for relegation and sit 18th in the table. Though they have a game in hand over 17th placed Burnley, Everton’s remaining fixtures are quite tricky. Everton’s run started with Chelsea followed by Leicester City, Watford, Brentford, Crystal Palace and Arsenal. However, they made a solid start with win over Chelsea. But they also broke one of Chelsea’s record in the process.
Chelsea were on a run of 10 unbeaten away games before facing Everton at Goodison park. Their record stretched back to mid-January against Manchester City. Since that 1-0 defeat at Etihad, Chelsea had not suffered an away defeat in all competitions. The Blues won 8 and drew 2 on road in that period. However, their loss at Goodison park meant that their record was broken. But the Blues need to wake up on their home form as they have lost all of their last three homes games in all competitions. Moreover, with 3 of their remaining 4 league games coming at home, they may even drop out of the top four at this rate.
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