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Tuchel stoked by ‘home-grown’ success and expects flop to benefit from striker arrival

Thomas Tuchel hailed Trevoh Chalobah’s performance as Chelsea beat Crystal Palace on Saturday and feels the arrival of Romelu Lukaku will help another of the club’s big-money signings.

The Blues went into their Premier League opener full of confidence having claimed the UEFA Super Cup in midweek. The west Londoners beat Villareal on penalties in Belfast before moving seamlessly onto domestic matters. They were far too good for a disappointing Palace outfit, in Patrick Vieira’s first game in charge.

Marcus Alonso opened the scoring on 27 minutes with a superb free-kick. Christian Pulisic then doubled the lead from close range after Hornets keeper Vicente Guaita fumbled Mason Mount’s cross.

And Chalobah put the icing on the cake of a 3-0 triumph with a 25-yard strike on 58 minutes at the Bridge. Tuchel was delighted, especially after the effort his men had put in on Wednesday evening.

“We came from a match on Wednesday and were overused physically,” he told Sky Sports. “It was a very hot today and we absolutely wanted to win, it was well deserved win with a good performance.”

Chalobah has been with the club since the age of eight. But he had yet to kick a ball for the senior team prior to this season.

Loans to Ipswich, Huddersfield and Lorient certainly helped and he has made a big impression early in 2021-22. Tuchel is a big fan and was delighted that a young English player is proving himself.

“Two fantastic games played now and played almost every minute in pre-season. He is a humble guy from the academy and was so, so good,” he added. “He plays with so much confidence, so many good behaviours on the pitch is a pretty perfect afternoon for him.

“You saw how they celebrated with him and these are the stories we love about football, in this game in an exciting league with players from abroad, there is still place for home grown talent at our club and other big clubs.”

Tuchel relishing Lukaku arrival

Lukaku has now re-joined Chelsea after seven years away. He was not involved against the Eagles but is expected to make a significant contribution throughout the campaign.

And the German tactician feels that his arrival might actually aid Timo Werner after his first-season struggles.

“I think it will help a lot, with the arrival of Romelu,” he continued. “He takes responsibility, can take some off Timo, Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic so we have more variations.

“We can play with two strikers or go with a front three. The arrival of Romelu is also good news for Timo.”

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