Thomas Tuchel Blames Stamford Bridge Pitch For Chelsea's Defeat To Arsenal, Strangest Excuse Yet

The Gunners condemned Chelsea to their third home defeat in a row in an entertaining affair.

Eddie Nketiah opened the scoring after capitalising on a mistake from Andreas Christensen and Tuchel was quick to blame the turf rather than his defender post-match.

He vented to reporters: "To say that the pitch is difficult to play here is maybe sounds like an excuse but it is a very, very difficult pitch that we have here.

"It is not to our favour. The ball bounces very, very awkwardly in front of Andreas [Christensen] when he wants to play this ball.

"But still, we had the same mistake against Real Madrid that cost us the Champions League next round, this one cost us the next match, I cannot remember when we got a goal like this."

Timo Werner's deflected effort would bring Chelsea level before Emile Smith Rowe's clever finish restored Arsenal's lead.

Nketiah scored his second of the game just before the hour mark..

The 22-year-old was given the nod up front despite not scoring a league goal all season and he repaid Mikel Arteta's faith.

Arsenal, who had lost their last three Premier League games, wrapped up victory in added time thanks to Bukayo Saka's penalty.

Saka was hauled down by captain Azpilicueta and sent goalkeeper Edouard Mendy the wrong way from the spot.

Victory for Arsenal means qualification for the top four is back in their hands.

They're behind Tottenham Hotspur in fourth by goal difference alone and travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next month for a massive north London derby.

Arsenal welcome Manchester United to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon in another game with huge top four implications.

United were back in the race after a 3-2 win over Norwich City last weekend.