Tuchel Blames ‘Very Difficult’ Stamford Bridge Pitch After Chelsea Loss

Head Coach Thomas Tuchel has blamed Chelsea’s shambolic performance against Arsenal on the state of the pitch at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues made series of defensive errors on Wednesday in w6est London to see them suffer an unexpected 4-2 loss to their London rivals.

Chelsea have lost three matches at home in April, conceding 11 times across their matches against Brentford, Real Madrid and Arsenal.

Tuchel has previously complained about the turf and was quick to mention it again during his post-match on Wednesday night.

“To say the pitch is difficult to play here it maybe sounds like an excuse, but it is a very, very difficult pitch that we have here. It’s not in our favour. The ball bounces very awkwardly in front of Andreas when he wants to play this ball.

“But still, we had the same mistake against Real Madrid that cost us the next round of the Champions League, and this one cost us the next match. I can’t remember when we got two goals like this.”

With Stamford Bridge set to be redeveloped under the new ownership, Tuchel said last week that he would consider holding talks over extending the pitch.

“If we think this is a reason maybe we would go into the discussion but the pitch size is pretty much a given in our stadium at least, and should not hold us back from performing better and winning our home games.”

Despite losing to Arsenal, Chelsea remain secure in third place in the Premier League. They still hold a five-point advantage over Arsenal and Tottenham with a game in hand.