Chelsea players turn on each other
Beating Porto away in the Champions League was the mid-week tonic Chelsea needed. They turned a negative few days into one of triumph. Last weekend Thomas Tuchel learned the hard way that any team in the Premier League can beat you on their day. The 5-2 loss to lowly West Bromwich Albion was a real wake-up call following Chelsea’s 14 match unbeaten run. I now have to question how the Blues would take a run of poor results given that they have got used to winning. Living near to the Blue’s Cobham training ground I went over there to see the players arrive for early training prior to leaving for Porto and not one of them displayed their usual smiles and waves. Several players turned on each other after the West Brom game with Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta exchanging heated words. Following that incident Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga had a nasty argument with Antonio Rudiger which was so bad that Tuchel sent Rudiger off the training pitch to cool down. Arrizabalaga was angry with a late training tackle by the club captain and resulted in shoving, pushing and shouting. Tuchel is at a critical point in the season with Chelsea sitting in 5th place in the league and fighting to come through the quarter final of the Champions League and then the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City on April 17th. He said this week, “We cannot lose our heads now and take away the trust we have in these players. In the game against West Bromwich our individual defending was simply not on the level that we are used to from our guys.” The trip to Crystal Palace this weekend will prove if Chelsea really are over the West Brom defeat.