Thomas Tuchel told 'stop moaning' as Chelsea boss rules team out of Premier League title race

The Chelsea boss claimed his side cannot compete for the Premier League title following Wednesday night's 1-1 draw with Brighton.

Tuchel's side have been ravaged by injury and are missing a number of players due to Covid.

But, as Agbonlahor pointed out on talkSPORT, Chelsea are not the only club suffering right now and have a superior squad to most in the top-flight to be able to cope.

Speaking on the Sports Breakfast, the former Aston Villa striker said: "Where do I start with Tuchel?

"I looked at Chelsea's bench - Havertz, Alonso, Sarr, Chalobah, Kante, Niguez, Ziyech, Barkley. What is he moaning about?

"He said after the game he can't play any wing-backs. Well, play a 4-4-2 for one game - I'm sure he'll survive.

"Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Rudiger, Alonso - most teams in the Premier League would chop your arm off fort that defence. So stop moaning and get on with it."

Romelu Lukaku's early header had looked set to hand Chelsea a crucial three points against Brighton before Danny Welbeck's last-gasp equaliser.

To make matters worse for the Blues, Reece James suffered a nasty-looking hamstring injury and Andreas Christensen a back problem to lengthen Chelsea's list of absentees, with seven players still out due to Covid isolation.

Chelsea now sit eight points behind Man City ahead of Sunday's clash with Liverpool, prompting Tuchel to rule his team out of the title race.

He said: "How should we be in it? We have seven Covid cases. We have five or six players out for six or more weeks. How should we compete in a title race?

"Everyone else who has a full squad, everybody in training has the full power to come through this league.

"We would be stupid to think we can do it out of Covid and injuries and just play, and everybody would be stupid to do it without 23 fit players. "

Asked if the Premier League's integrity has been lost through the differing Covid profiles of each team, Tuchel continued: "This is the reality, this is where we are and we have to adapt to the demands of the situation which you are in.

"I competed very hard for the win at Brighton at home. I don't know what I can expect from my players in terms of physicality, intensity or minutes. Nobody knows any more because we have never done something like this. We play trial and error and see what we can do.

"I will protect my team. We can play better but we need the full squad over weeks and weeks. It's a hamstring injury for Reece James which is a huge blow, and a back injury for Andreas Christensen."