'Special' Tuchel having similar effect to Mourinho at Chelsea in 2004

Tuchel steered Chelsea to a Champions League triumph in just under six months after arriving at the club, as well as guiding them from ninth place to fourth last term having taken over from Frank Lampard in January.

His side have had a superb start to the 2021/22 campaign and on Sunday, delivered a statement 3-0 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to reaffirm their title credentials.

After being second best in the first half, Tuchel introduced N'Golo Kante and switched formation and it paid immediate dividends as Thiago Silva and the Frenchman both scored in the opening 12 minutes of the second half, with Antonio Rudiger adding a late third.

And Townsend, who made 110 top-flight appearances for Chelsea in three years at the club from 1990, believes Tuchel's incredible impact in west London cannot be understated.

"There's a lot to admire about the way that Thomas Tuchel works," he told Drive.

"I was just thinking as I came to the studio, when Jose first arrived at Chelsea, he kind of shook the world.

"He grabbed them by the scruff of the neck and hauled them up, got them rubbing shoulders with the best and taking Fergie on when he's in his pomp.

"Come January, if he's got Chelsea where they are today - top of the pile - with a Champions League under his belt, he also is doing something very very special.

"I know he's inherited some tremendous players, but a of them - Rudiger - he was on his way out and the boxes were officially coming out of the loft.

"With Azpi [Cesar Azpilicueta], it looked like Reece James had wrestled that shirt off him.

"Marcos Alonso is so transformed at the moment he's one of their best attacking players!"