Thomas Tuchel left livid at refereeing decisions as Chelsea are held against Brighton

Second-placed Chelsea saw the gap to the top-of-the-table increase to eight points following a 1-1 draw at home against Brighton and Hove Albion.

Romelu Lukaku’s first-half strike was cancelled out in the 90th minute by Seagulls substitute Danny Welbeck, meanwhile, a 1-0 victory for Manchester City over Brentford saw the Citizens extend their lead over the second-placed Blues.

Chelsea had led the Premier League from the opening week, however a run of just two victories in six matches coupled with a nine-match win streak for Manchester City has seen Pep Guardiola’s team take a significant lead in the title race.

However, the gap to the top looked like it was set to remain at six points as Mason Mount looked to put the match beyond doubt in the 89th minute.

Mount stole the ball from Joel Veltman in an advanced position before rolling the ball into the back of the net with Robert Sanchez off his line.

Only for referee Mike Dean to blow for a contentious foul on the Dutchman before the ball crossed the goal-line, meaning it could not be reviewed by VAR.

From looking at a two-goal lead to losing two points just thirty seconds later as the Seagulls went straight down the opposite end and Welbeck converted an excellent header to snatch a draw.

Thomas Tuchel also felt that his side should have been awarded a penalty after Christian Pulisic was brought down in the box by Veltman and while the incident was checked by VAR the German felt they came to the wrong decision. Tuchel said:

“Honestly, I would never normally say it, but we have a 100 per cent penalty against Christian Pulisic, it’s honestly a joke not to interfere from VAR.

“We also have a 50-50 challenge from Mason Mount right before the equaliser when the ball is going into the net…

“Why does the referee even need to whistle before the ball is over the line? We have VAR to check. Why can we not wait and then check it, and then if he decides then it’s a foul, then decide it?

“Is he so sure? Or does he want to keep the tension up?”

Injuries piling up as Chelsea lose ground in the title race

Embed from Getty Images
The late equaliser rubbed salt into the growing wounds in Tuchel’s team as Reece James and Andreas Christensen joined the Blues’ growing injury list.

The two defenders pulled up midway through the first-half meaning Tuchel was forced into two early substitutions and the lack of energy was evident in the latter stages of the match as the visitors mounted the pressure on Chelsea with 15 minutes to go.

Christensen and James join Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva in the treatment room and leave the Blues seriously short in terms of numbers in the defensive departments.

Chilwell became a regular in the starting eleven for the Blues but is likely to miss the rest of the season as scans revealed he will require surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament and now the starting wingback on the opposite side, James, seems set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines too as Tuchel revealed he suffered a hamstring injury.

Tuchel said:

“There is no prognosis on James yet, it is a hamstring injury, we no more wingbacks, we have everybody injured.

“Everyone is exhausted, it is the same every matchday now.

“We simply have way too many players of whom we don’t know what we can demand.

“They come from long injuries, they come from COVID. I simply don’t know what they are capable of doing.

“We started very, very well, until the injury for Reece James, which was a huge blow.

“Then we lose Andreas Christensen, who was until then again one of the top players on the pitch.

“At some point, it’s too much.”

The German continued to express his frustrations as he felt his side had been treated unfairly compared to their title rivals. He added:

“How should we compete in a title race?

“We have seven COVID cases, we have four or five key players out for six or more weeks.

“Everybody else has a full squad and has everybody in training and is training every single day at full power to come through this league.”

Yet the matches will continue to come thick and fast and the next few weeks will prove to be decisive in Chelsea’s chase for a first league title in five years.

The Blues now face the daunting task of taking a depleted squad to face their two closest title competitors Liverpool and Manchester City in their next two fixtures, before heading to Dubai to compete in the World Club Cup.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt