Thomas Tuchel has excelled at Chelsea since he took over from Frank Lampard in January of last year, when the Blues were floundering in midtable and silverware at the end of the campaign seeming unlikely. But the former Paris Saint-Germain boss rose to the challenge, secured a top four finish and guided the Blues to two cup finals.
They lost the FA Cup to Leicester but bounced back to beat Manchester City and win the Champions League just two weeks later. The German has carried on the success of last season this term by winning the Super Cup and Club World Cup as well as guiding the club to another FA Cup final.
The turnaround in fortunes has been impressive to say the least, but there was an expectation that the German would close the gap on Man City and Liverpool this season. And whilst the Blues initially kept pace with the Premier League’s top two, they began to fall away not long after the festive period.
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One of the main reasons Chelsea have failed to sustain a tilt at the title is down to a patchy home record, and if there is one area in which Tuchel hasn’t excelled, it's the Blues' form at Stamford Bridge. The 48-year-old has the lowest points per home league game of any manager during the Roman Abramovich era with 1.76.
The west London club have lost their last three home games, their worst run at the Bridge for 29 years. And if Tuchel is to win a first league title for the club since the 2016/17 season he will need to address this issue as home form is the very foundation of any club’s success.
In stark contrast Liverpool are yet to lose a Premier League home game this season, and Manchester City have only lost twice in the top flight at the Etihad so far. Chelsea will need to reach similar levels of consistency if they are to bridge the gap between themselves and the sides they wish to challenge for the game’s top honours.
