Thomas Tuchel admitted Chelsea were lucky and had Tottenham to thank after they reached the Champions League.
The Blues lost 2-1 at Aston Villa on the the final day of the Premier League season but Leicester’s 4-2 defeat to Spurs meant they banked fourth spot by a point.
Bertrand Traore’s first-half goal and Anwar El Ghazi’s penalty put Villa 2-0 up before Ben Chilwell grabbed a consolation.
Cesar Azpilicueta was sent off late on for lashing out at Jack Grealish but Chelsea squeezed into the top four to reduce the pressure ever so slightly on Saturday’s Champions League final with Manchester City.
Tuchel, whose tactics have been downplayed, said: “We are lucky Tottenham did the job for us. We came to win and to put any doubts to the side and it was not possible.
“We need to adjust details and we need to be spot-on on Saturday if we are going to have a positive outcome.
“I knew three or four minutes before our game was over (that they had made the top four) because the game at Leicester was over a bit earlier and it was clear we were through.
“We did not prepare for the occasion today, we prepared for the match. It’s normally hard to create chances against Aston Villa but we created a lot.
“We are still a young team and we try to evolve and make them better. We needed many clean sheets to overcome this lack of composure and precision. Today we conceded out of nothing and made it hard to come back.”
But the manager is sweating on the fitness of Edouard Mendy for the final in Porto after the goalkeeper was injured trying to stop Traore’s opener.
He added: “He fell on the frame of the net and has big pain in his ribs, we need to wait and we will have an update tomorrow. We have a week to prepare and we will see if it’s possible.”
Tuchel might now be free to pursue a move for England international Declan Rice after reigniting the club’s interest in the West Ham midfielder.
The post Tuchel admits Chelsea ‘are lucky Tottenham did the job for us’ appeared first on Football365.