Soccer

    Thomas Tuchel praises Chelsea’s character as Blues earn bumper win despite off-field uncertainty

    Planet Sport writerStaff Writer5 March 2022
    Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel (left) and first team coach Zsolt Low before the Premier League match at Turf Moor, Burnley. Picture date: Saturday March 5, 2022.

    Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel (left) and first team coach Zsolt Low before the Premier League match at Turf Moor, Burnley. Picture date: Saturday March 5, 2022.

    Despite a growing amount of uncertainty about Chelsea’s future, the players didn’t appear to be flustered as they powered to a 4-0 win over Burnley.

    All four goals were scored in the second-half as Reece James, Christian Pulisic and a brace for Kai Havertz sealed an important win. 

    Thomas Tuchel's side remain third in the table and a massive 13 points behind league leaders Man City. Nevertheless, the win does - at the very least - give the Blues an eight-point cushion in the battle for the top four.

    Away from the football pitch, the situation appears to be a lot less straight forward as Roman Abramovich looks to sell the club.

    Despite the precarious situation at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel was pleased to see his men maintain their focus.

    He said: "We had a brilliant match at Wembley and to make it harder a disappointing result at the end, and three days later we were at Luton, a totally different set-up, different circumstance, we were twice behind in the game but we turned it around and job done.
    "Three days later we arrive at Burnley and you know at Turf Moor what's waiting - physicality, direct play, fighting for second balls, crosses, set-pieces, and again we stepped up.
    "It shows for a me a lot of character. It shows the guys have what it takes to play for Chelsea. It shows we have the environment to focus on football. We believe we are allowed to focus on football and we do it as good as possible."

    The match ended as Chelsea's biggest away league win since they won 4-0 at Turf Moor in October 2018, but only after a first half in which Burnley had the better chances despite Tuchel's side bossing the ball.

    It was a different story after the break as they scored three in nine minutes.
    "We were very calm (at half-time)," added Tuchel. "We just reminded everybody what we wanted to, where the spaces were, where to find acceleration. Clearly up front we needed to ask more questions and make life more difficult.
    "But the goal opened the game for us and gave us a lot of belief and confidence. Then the attacks were more fluid and we were absolutely more decisive."
    Next up for Chelsea is an away clash with Norwich on Thursday, March 10.

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