Thomas Tuchel was musing about the knock-on effect of the Club World Cup on next season’s title race. “I think it will have a huge impact and it will give Liverpool and Arsenal a huge advantage in the next season to not be there,” he said.
What Tuchel did not mention is that Chelsea, disadvantaged as a result, qualified for the Club World Cup because of him. It feels a very different era given that Enzo Maresca is the fifth man to manage them since – Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor, Frank Lampard and Mauricio Pochettino are the others – and that Reece James is the only player to take the field in Tuchel’s 2021 Champions League final victory who is in the squad they have taken to the United States.
