Nightmare for Tuchel as top-four race opens up again

Chelsea boss will be cheering on United after Arsenal defeat

THIS was the night Thomas Tuchel got it all wrong. Jorginho, too, and Kai Havertz — again.

Just when we thought the outcome of the Premier League season had all but been determined, an unholy trinity of errors has blown the race for the top-four wide open.

Just how costly this defeat proves to Chelsea’s ambitions will become clearer tonight — and potentially make Saturday’s FA Cup Final an appetiser for what could effectively be a Champions League play-off when Tuchel’s side face Leicester for a second time in four days.

Both the German and Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers will become Manchester United fans for the night when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side host Liverpool tonight.

Because, all of a sudden, top four is in Jurgen Klopp’s own hands. And if his side can pull off a win, he will take a massive step towards securing that.

Simply put, if Liverpool win their four remaining fixtures, they will be in the Champions League at the expense of either Chelsea or Leicester. That is how serious last night’s defeat was for Tuchel (left, on the touchline last night).

Liverpool will move to within a point of Chelsea if they win their two games in hand and three behind Leicester. With those two clubs facing each other on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge, Klopp will have the opportunity to capitalise on at least one of them dropping points and potentially both if it is a draw.

To make matters worse, Liverpool have eminently winnable games against relegated West Brom, Burnley and Crystal Palace once they get United out of the way. By the time they travel to Burnley next Wednesday they could have the opportunity to leapfrog either Chelsea or Leicester.

No wonder Tuchel was so annoyed with himself for making a host of changes against Arsenal.

As for Jorginho’s blind back pass that led to Emile Smith Rowe’s first-half winner, it could prove so much more costly than just three points bragging rights for their London rivals.

Meanwhile, Havertz’s failure to even hit the target when through one-on-one with Bernd Leno with the score at 0-0 represents the biggest flaw in this Chelsea team and a clear and present danger to their hopes of a spectacular end to the season.

“We had a soft performance,” said Tuchel. “Not sharp enough, not with the same energy that we normally put on the pitch and for that you cannot expect to get results.

“We can handle losing if we put out everything on the pitch, but I did not have the feeling that we did today, so that’s why we are disappointed.

“For sure, everybody would have liked watching that tonight who is in the race for top four. It’s our fault, make no mistake about it. I don’t know the table

now because I am disappointed and angry, so I will look at the fixtures and the table next Tuesday.

“I have absolutely no joy watching any other game now. I will watch our game and analyse it and we need to show a reaction on Saturday.”

Defeat threatens to cast a shadow over the Cup Final, with the following League game against Leicester now arguably more important.

Even the trip to Aston Villa on the final day of the season is far from straightforward.

Yet Chelsea — like Liverpool and Leicester — also have their fate in their own hands. Win their remaining two games and they will be in the Champions League next season.

Effectively they now have four cup finals over the next two weeks, with FA Cup and Champions League acting as bookends to the remaining Premier League fixtures.

That this was only their second League defeat since Tuchel took charge at Stamford Bridge in January should provide cause for optimism that they will not falter at this late stage.

Under the German they have always produced when it was most needed, most recently against Manchester City last weekend.

Perhaps the fact that there will be so much riding on their remaining League games ensures they will have to play with the edge Tuchel so often refers to, right up to the Champions League Final against Pep Guardiola’s City side on May 29.

There will be no excuse now for the Chelsea manager to tinker with his line-up, no reason for his players to lack the “hunger” or “sharpness” he bemoaned last night when faced with the need for maximum points against Leicester or Villa.

He will have to hope defeat serves as a timely warning ahead of a critical fortnight for the club.

But, perhaps most of all, he will be hoping for a United win tonight.