Thomas Tuchel’s first game as Chelsea boss ended in a goalless draw against Wolves on Wednesday night.
The German’s side enjoyed plenty of possession and passed the ball nicely, but that all-important goal never came despite a flurry of late chances.
Tuchel admitted he went for experience in the game having only been appointed to the job 48 hours earlier.
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Mason Mount, a particular favourite under Frank Lampard, was benched along with Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Tammy Abraham.
Jorginho and Olivier Giroud, however, found themselves in the starting line-up; a rare occurence in recent weeks under Lampard.
“It’s maybe the most unfair line-up we have ever done because there is no reason to give to players to not be in the line-up,” Tuchel admitted ahead of kick-off.
Chelsea saw plenty of the ball in the first half recording 433 passes in the opening 45 minutes.
This was the most by any team in the Premier League so far this season but, despite all that possession, chances were hard to come by for both teams.
It was also the most passes recorded by any Chelsea team since the start of the 2003/04 season.
The second half continued in much the same way as the first.
Chelsea dictated play, moving the ball nicely around the defence and midfield – but chances in the final third continued to be lacking.
In total, Chelsea passed the ball more than 900 times but, for all that possession, the Blues never seriously looked like scoring against Nuno’s rigid defence.
With Wednesday’s draw, Chelsea are eighth in the Premier League on 30 points after 20 games. The Blues are five points behind fourth-place West Ham, having played the same amount of games as their London rivals.
Tuchel’s Chelsea will be back on Sunday against Burnley before facing off with Tottenham next week in a clash of top-four hopefuls.
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