Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has expressed concerns over his side’s lack of goals heading into the new season after their pre-season defeat against Arsenal.
The Blues were beaten 4-0 by their London rivals in Orlando, and have now ended their tour of the United States with just three goals in as many games.
Last season, many of the Chelsea attackers struggled in front of goal, with some failing to score more than ten goals in all competitions.
Raheem Sterling has been brought in to try and rectify that problem, although he has had very little game time for the club since his arrival so far.
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The defeat against Arsenal has now raised questions over whether or not Chelsea will be able to compete for the Premier League title next season, especially when the gap between them and Manchester City and Liverpool is so large.
They still have time left in the transfer market to bring in new players, but the start of the new season is now fast approaching.
After the loss, Tuchel was asked if he is concerned about his side’s lack of goals heading into the new campaign.
"For sure,” said the German. “If you look at the first half, it was even hard to escape our half in a productive way and to play in the opponent’s half in a positive way and create chances – we had one chance with a shot (that hit the post).
"But the amount of dangerous situations, the amount of one against ones, the amount of accelerations in the second half, where we dominated the game and were the better team in the first 22 minutes, but with their first action they score and we didn't have too many dangerous situations (after that).
"Listen, it's the same players, so why should anything change?
“We will see hopefully development but at the moment, we have the same issues because we have the same players."
Tuchel slammed his players for the performance against Arsenal, with the Blues now set to return to the UK amid the conclusion of their tour.
He said: “I think we deserved to lose, which is fair enough, because we were simply not good enough. We were absolutely not competitive.
“The worrying part is the level of commitment, physically and mentally, for this match was not the same, it was far higher for Arsenal than us.
"We can argue they played with I think their strongest line-up; they've had now together several weeks and for more than one year.
“They've strengthened their line-up, played the same structure, and this is the line-up they'll try to start Premier League games.
"It was not our strongest lineup and this is part of an explanation but only a little part. The other part is worrying."
Chelsea’s final match of pre-season will see them face Udinese away from home on Friday evening.
Topics: Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea, Arsenal
Robert Calcutt