Chelsea star in heated dressing room clash with captain Azpilicueta after 5-2 defeat to West Brom

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According to the Telegraph (subscription required), Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga were not the only Chelsea stars fighting in the aftermath of being hammered 5-2 by West Bromwich Albion…

Matt Law of the Telegraph reports that Reece James was involved in a ‘frank’ exchange of views with club captain Cesar Azpilicueta inside the Stamford Bridge dressing room straight after the shock defeat.

It’s reiterated that James was one of the players at fault for the goal that made it 2-1 to the Baggies.

That came right after the full-back gave the ball away, before joining his teammates in being fooled by a silky, fake-shotting Matheus Pereira who tucked the ball into the net.

Thankfully for Chelsea supporters’ and Thomas Tuchel’s sake it’s reported that James and Azpilicueta cleared the air in private later, with no issue between the duo during training on Sunday.

See More: Video: Hakim Ziyech ‘wasted’ pivotal Chelsea counter-attack with ‘awful’ pass slammed by these Blues fans against West Brom

Thomas Tuchel manager of Chelsea looks dumbfounded as he sits down during the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London. Picture date: 3rd April 2021. Picture credit should read: David Klein/Sportimage PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK SPI-0985-0053

The remarkable victory from Sam Allardyce’s nailed-on relegation candidates ended a 14-game unbeaten run for the Blues since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as manager.

Defeat leaves Chelsea in fourth place, amid fierce competition, but luckily the Blues were not overtake this afternoon as London rivals Tottenham Hotspur dropped points to Newcastle in a Spursy fashion.

Rifts between players is the last thing that Tuchel need as he prepares the team for the first-leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie against Porto on Wednesday night.

These incidents breaking into the media will also unfortunately mean that any on-pitch disconnects between the said players will always lead to references of the fights, even now that they’re settled.

More Stories Antonio Rudiger Cesar Azpilicueta Kepa Arrizabalaga Reece James Thomas Tuchel

17 Comments

  1. Honestly speaking, I praised Tuchel for including three good attacking players in Pulisic, Werner, and Ziyech. But Tuchel has to be blamed for the defeat against West Bromwich Albion yesterday. When the red card came, at the point you would need attackers who are quick on their feet and can score the goals as well. Then boom, he thought the game was not in his favour anymore so he had to make those horrible changes, by Subbing Ziyech and Pulisic. For God’s sake, we were not loosing the game, we were in fact in control of the game and was leading even after the red card. You were using five defenders and one got sent off, you still had four on the pitch, and at that time, you could have switched to four backs. If he [Tuchel] had changed Alonso and used either of James or Azpi on the left, it would have been ideal. Other than sending off your valuable assets, who can create for you the goals. We know very well that Alonso is sluggish and has no pace to recover when we are under threat, so we going down to 10 men, it will be wise for WBA to attack more, so in that case, get on those that are good, those that can run from ends of the pitch to help the situation. TT, you had it wrong for the first time. I am very upset with the defeat yesterday, so please, don’t get me upset again…. What pains me the most is the fact that, it was WBA and not Man City.

    1. Yeah well said… I was hoping we parked the bus and treated it like a cup final. Rather than carry on playing as thought we had 11 men. Poor game management by tuchel.

      Why didn’t we just sit back and play on the counter… that’s common sense. Very poor game management and that could just cost us the top four.

  2. it was just normal…in football there are three things…u either win loose or draw…luck was not on our side…

  3. Chelsea like any other team tried it’s best but we were simply unlucky.Next time better

  4. Thiago been introduced in that game was wrong… he got it wrong by adding him to the line up… the first leg with Westbrom he cost us a goal with his sleep up… he should have stick with rudiger and Chris’ …. in epl it a very known history relegation threatened teams inflict pain of this kind to top team… Tt to me undermined WB.

  5. I think Jorginho was awful. In tight situation, when your were down 10 men but leading by a goal, the better attitude was to play it safe. No need to tick-tack your passing or clearance as when you were on the top, just clear the ball FIRST. Time to discard him.

  6. This not about lucky, this is about the stone you see coming and you put your eyes so that you can be blind, it could have changed to 4 2 3. That could have balance the game for Chelsea, 4 defenders 2 midfielders and 3 front lines. That could have balance the game.

  7. ordinarily,one would have expect chelsea fc to win .but this is england .it was time for chelsea to loose after fourteen unbeaten matches.

  8. I think tuchel would have not make that substitute that he made by removing ziyech at the first time a
    nd pulisic although he have little beat of pains in his harmstring but for me jorgiho is one of the course by playing back passes and his not fast enough to mark ball as a defencive midfielder because he would have be the person that mark that ball Thiago mark,but I think silver is not feet enough for march

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