Azpilicueta blames Chelsea's misfiring forwards for five-year title drought

Cesar Azpilicueta has laid the blame for Chelsea's five-year Premier League title drought at the club's misfiring forwards.

The Blues captain, who recently committed his future to Stamford Bridge by signing a new two-year contract extension, has got his hands on the English crown twice playing alongside the likes of Didier Drogba and Diego Costa. But Azpilicueta admits that Chelsea's marksmen in recent years haven't been up to scratch, as manager Thomas Tuchel recently suggested that their No.9 shirt was cursed.

The Spanish defender led his side to victory over Everton in their first match of the new season on Saturday, although the Blues needed a penalty from midfielder Jorginho to sneak a 1-0 win. "You know, every team wants to score a lot of goals and not concede," Azpilicueta explained post-match. "It's true that maybe at the top it is obvious for the last few years we were a bit far."

"You know it is five seasons since the last time we won the Premier League. We need to score goals if we want to win anything. We need to score goals and not to concede anything.

"Lately, the last couple of games in the Premier League, we didn't score enough and with a half-chance we concede. So that's our problem, and that's why we finished third with 20 or more points behind Manchester City."

Tuchel's transfer business this summer suggests that he agrees with his skipper, having loaned out club-record signing Romelu Lukaku back to Inter Milan just a year after buying him for £97.5million, while Timo Werner verges on a return to RB Leipzig.

Despite Chelsea's lack of options at the centre of their attack, Azpilicueta is still confident about the future at Stamford Bridge, adding: "We've got a lot to work on and improve on but the main thing was the three points and we got them, so we're happy.

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"We're a team in transition and we're still trying to work together. We've got new players that have been integrated in and a new ownership, so we're still working hard and basically we're just taking every game as it comes."

Tuchel agrees that his team have plenty of room for improvement, as the Blues boss admitted: "A win is a win and of course it's very important to build now confidence, to build up belief, to build up an atmosphere. But also we must be open for improvement, open for criticism, because there are a lot of things to improve."