Chelsea Need To Respond To Thomas Tuchel’s Warning vs Arsenal After Charlotte FC Display

Pre-season preparations haven’t gone entirely according to plan for Chelsea, leaving Thomas Tuchel disappointed as their United States tour comes towards an end. 

In their last match, Chelsea drew 1-1 with MLS side Charlotte FC in North Carolina in midweek, eventually losing via a penalty shoot-out after Conor Gallagher’s decisive miss.

Thomas Tuchel was far from pleased with his Blues side, and even though a fair number of first-team regulars featured, Chelsea looked unrecognisable against their opponents from America. Even after a few substitutions, London’s highest finishers struggled to get out of first gear.

"Second half, it took us half an hour to show some quality and then it was maybe for ten minutes, so it was not good at all,” the Chelsea boss said post-match.

“Not offensively, not structure-wise, not in effort, hunger to be the dominant team.

'It was not good enough.”

From the performance on the pitch to the penalty kicks, it was a very lacklustre Chelsea. Now, they have an early opportunity to right their wrongs against Arsenal, who await on Sunday morning (UK) in Florida at the Camping World Stadium. 

The Gunners have had a decent start to their preparations for the season, but are yet to face a side of Chelsea’s calibre - Nurnberg, Everton and Orlando City.

Tuchel is not a coach you would want to keep unhappy for too long, so in order for some players not to lose their place in the team, they too will need to step it up. 

So far, just Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Christian Pulisic have found the back of the net in pre-season, so goalscoring looks to be a major hurdle for the club right now.

Raheem Sterling did get to feature for the first time and will be raring to go against a side he has haunted time and time again in the past, and against Mikel Arteta, a manager who knows him very well from their time spent together at Manchester City.

“I saw four accelerations in the second half and they all came from Raheem,” added Tuchel.

“This is what he delivers and there is no need for major doubts or huge criticism, but it is never important what the manager has in his head before pre-season, it’s the reality that counts.”

Chelsea won the last pre-season fixture between these two sides, winning at the Emirates Stadium last year, seeing off the Gunners 2-1 in north London.

Attack seems to be a slight concern at the moment, but with Sterling likely to feature from the start, he could thrive off of Kalidou Koulibaly’s long balls from the back, who is also on course to make his debut against Arsenal after arriving from Napoli in a deal worth £34 million, signing on a four-year contract.

There is work to be done and Tuchel will be keen to see a reaction before they head back to England with the Premier League season just two weeks away from getting underway.

The Chelsea head coach knows his side need to be more competitive and they can show that extra edge in the London derby that takes place Stateside in Orlando on Sunday morning.