Thomas Tuchel faults Chelsea players energy in 4-1 defeat to Brentford

Chelsea’s boss Thomas Tuchel claims his side looked “mentally tired” in their crushing loss at home to Brentford this afternoon.

It was a bleak Saturday for Blues supporters, as they watched their team lose 4-1 in the Premier League against rivals Brentford.

Antonio Rudiger’s opener at the start of the second period was meant to set the hosts on their way to another positive result, but the visitors produced their performance of their season to flip the game on its head.

Vitaly Janelt netted twice for Brentford, along with goals from Christian Eriksen and Yoane Wissa.

Third-placed Chelsea still have an eight-point gap to Tottenham in fifth, but perhaps some may start looking over their shoulders after today.

Tuchel cited a return from the international break as a possible factor in the weekend’s defeat, with most of their stars travelling abroad to play for their countries.

“In general we allowed too many shots and in general we lacked energy. We looked mentally tired which is normal after being around the world. After scoring we forgot we still had 40 minutes to play,” Tuchel said (5:15pm) .

Real Madrid will be buoyed by Chelsea result

Today’s game was obviously a freak result that can come around once a season.

It’s worrying that Chelsea’s loss is going to give a big psychological boost to upcoming opponents Real Madrid, though.

The first leg of the Champions League quarter-final between Chelsea and Madrid takes place at Stamford Bridge next Wednesday.

La Liga leaders Madrid aren’t going to travel to London with any fear after watching the match against Brentford, so the league result could end up impacting the European competition.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some individual changes to the line-up in midweek.