With less than three weeks until the new Premier League season, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has questioned his side’s commitment after a 4-0 loss to Arsenal in a pre-season friendly.
The Gunners thrashed the Blues in Orlando with goals from Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Albert Sambi Lokonga.
The defeat rounded out Chelsea’s United States tour that included a 2-1 win over America, before a penalty shootout loss to MLS club Charlotte FC after a 1-1 draw.
The hefty margin was one thing but Tuchel was clearly not impressed with his side against Arsenal.
“I think we deserved to lose – which is fair enough – because we were simply not good enough,” Tuchel said.
“We were absolutely not competitive. The worrying part is the level of commitment, physically and mentally, for this match was not the same, it was far higher for Arsenal than us.
“We can argue they played with their strongest line-up; they’ve had now together several weeks and for more than one year.
“They’ve strengthened their line-up, played the same structure, and this is the line-up they’ll try to start Premier League games.
“It was not our strongest line-up and this is part of an explanation, but only a little part. The other part is worrying.”
N’Golo Kante was Chelsea’s main absentee, while Ben Chilwell was an unused substitute with Tuchel playing a back four rather than their normal three-man defence.
Tuchel handed a debut to new signing Kalidou Koulibaly, while Raheem Sterling also got minutes.
But the Blues have lost key players, particularly in defence this off-season with Andreas Christensen and [Antonio Rudiger]]’s exits to Spain in light of Roman Abramovich’s departure as owner.
“We got sanctioned and players left us, we know that some players are trying to leave us, and this is where it is,” Tuchel said.
“We had an urgent appeal for quality players and a huge amount of quality players. We’ve got two quality players – that is no doubt – but we are not competitive like this and unfortunately, we could see it today.”
Chelsea are still pursuing a deal for French defender Jules Kounde from Sevilla.
On Kounde, Tuchel said: “There is no update.”
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