Chelsea 2-1 Leicester: Thomas Tuchel 'happy' as Blues bounce back from cup final agony
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel warned his side "the job is not done yet" – but is this deja vu for Leicester City?
Tuchel's side beat the Foxes 2-1 to boost their hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League – four days after Leicester beat Chelsea 1-0 in the FA Cup final.
"It was a strong performance and well deserved performance," Tuchel told BBC Sport.
"[This is] no time for celebration, the job is not done yet, two more games to go. We're very happy to play in front of supporters, it was a huge difference today."
Chelsea's top-four hopes are now in their own hands but Leicester are in real danger of dropping out of the top four late in the season again.
- Chelsea's revenge and Roy's farewell
Who needs what?
Chelsea's remaining game: Sunday – Aston Villa (a).
Leicester's remaining game: Sunday – Tottenham (h).
Liverpool's remaining two games: Wednesday – Burnley (a); Sunday – Crystal Palace (h).
Chelsea will be guaranteed a Champions League place if they beat Aston Villa on the final day. Even if they finish fifth, they could qualify if they beat Manchester City in the Champions League final on 29 May.
Liverpool and Leicester could be separated by goal difference if they win their games – although the Reds have the edge.
If Liverpool beat Burnley and Crystal Palace by one goal each, Leicester would need to beat Tottenham 3-0 on the final day. They would need to win by more if the Reds get bigger victories in either game.
If either the Clarets or Eagles deny the Reds, then it is still in Leicester's hands.
Why does this feel familiar for Leicester?
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers says his side conceded a "very very harsh" penalty
There are huge similarities between last season and this campaign for Leicester, who have spent a large period of those two years in the top four places.
When football paused because of the first Covid lockdown, Leicester were eight points clear of fifth place.
They would only win one of their nine games after the Premier League restarted and dropped out on the penultimate day.
This season at the same stage they were also eight points above fifth place (and 13 above Liverpool, who had one game in hand).
If Liverpool beat Burnley on Wednesday, the Foxes will again drop out of the top four on the penultimate round of games.
"We said it all along, the players have had a great season but it would have to be after 38 games," said Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers.
"We have to get the points on Sunday then see where we are. If we don't get in the Champions League it has still been a great season."
The FA Cup win would, of course, make this season's potential collapse easier to take – it still makes it the second best season in Leicester's history.
Chelsea get the win they really needed?
Saturday felt like the bigger game for Leicester, who had never won the FA Cup before. But Chelsea, who have won that cup six times since 2000, are more reliant on a Champions League finish.
"You want to win every final. The game was so big that we couldn't have so much things in our head about the final because we had to concentrate on this game," Chelsea striker Timo Werner told BBC Sport.
"It was much more important because when you don't play Champions League next season it means a lot."
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Comment posted by JamieCrawfordd7, today at 04:20JamieCrawfordd7
04:20Chelsea fan here. Think it’s mad that some people are saying that Leicester are going to ‘fail’ again. Absolute incredible season for them. Watching them bring the owner to lift the FA cup actually made me happy they won. A proper team. Your season has been incredible again regardless of the next fixtures. We all envy you even if some can’t admit it. the ‘top six’ should include you.37926
Comment posted by BlueFox, at 23:47 18 MayBlueFox
23:47 18 MayIt’s quite sad when getting to the Champions League means more to some than actually winning anything.
5th place guaranteed and an FA Cup win.
Thankyou very much26019
Comment posted by andrew, today at 07:14andrew
07:14Is it possible to get an agreement against us that BBC should posts that contain childish rubbish such as ‘Chelski’, ‘ManUre’, ‘Spuds’, etc. It turns the conversation into a primary school playground squabble rather than a conversation about football. Very, very tedious. ‘Not big, not clever’. Massive upvote and maybe BBC could take this on board ?24421
Comment posted by JJP70, today at 00:12JJP70
00:12It is disappointing that your journalism is ropey enough that you wrote a falsehood. Leicester won 2 games after lockdown last season – against Crystal Palace and Sheffield United. If you’re getting paid to write and this is supposedly your area of expertise, less laziness would be appreciated.1538
Comment posted by Avi, at 23:50 18 MayAvi
23:50 18 MayLet’s not forget Leicester has had a very good season, I can name you 15 teams that would love to do what they have done, this season.
They may still get top 4 so they are not out of it yet. plus a FA cup!!!1277
Comment posted by Smart Mick, today at 08:05Smart Mick
08:05As a Cardiff fan it was just over 10years ago I witnessed us beat leicester in a play off semi. 11 years on they’ve won a PL title and an FA Cup and are competing for a top 4 finish. If that’s failure, god help football!! Well done leicester where ever you finish these season!1021
Comment posted by Crueboy, today at 06:21Crueboy
06:21As a foxes fan, it’s been a great season. The squad isn’t quite good enough for CL in my opinion.892
Comment posted by Ozzy D, today at 05:52Ozzy D
05:52Liverpool fan here, massive part of me feels that Leicester and Chelsea deserve to finish above us, we haven’t even been close to our best this season and I can hardly believe we have a chance of being in the top 4 with 2 games to go. All any of the teams involved can do is try to win their games and see what happens by the end of Sunday’s games, should be interesting to watch though9114
Comment posted by Rafiki, today at 06:31Rafiki
06:31Yes Brendon, the penalty was a tad harsh, but the penalty that Chelsea were denied earlier was stonewall …sorry fella.9116
Comment posted by Chris A, today at 06:12Chris A
06:12I hope Chelsea used the video that Amartey posted on social media after the cup final, as motivation for last night and to get them fired up.
It was a classless act of disrespect to beaten opponents, so astonishingly brazen that I’m amazed it wasn’t spoken about more, even by the Leicester loving media. He got his comeuppance in my opinion.6611
Comment posted by Robbo, today at 07:43Robbo
07:43As a leicester fan, FA cup and 5th place would be an amazing season…. and thats worse case!431
Comment posted by Perton66, today at 07:01Perton66
07:01As a neutral I believe that Werner felt a touch and dived to the floor. That said, I don’t blame him. I can’t think of a premier league attacking player that doesn’t dive these days. Football is truly a non contact sport and the game is worse for it.5313
Comment posted by beatles63, today at 07:07beatles63
07:07To finish above Spurs and Everton both of whom have spent much more on their squads and win the Cup is a great achievement. Everton in particular would bite your hands off for such a season.381
Comment posted by CWBA2017, today at 07:13CWBA2017
07:13Vardy wasn’t laughing just before the final whistle, like he was on Saturday was he?
To be honest, Chelsea could and should have pummelled Leicester last night.
Not much shouting from Lineker last night either…5527
Comment posted by LondonsFinestClub, today at 00:40LondonsFinestClub
00:40Jeez! Chelsea could’ve been six up. If we start converting even a couple more we are dangerous. Leceister are defensively very organised and always a threat. Chelsea just look a better side.3710
Comment posted by Clem Fandango, today at 12:14Clem Fandango
12:14I’m a Leicester fan and still remember the 10 years in the Championship! I breathe a sigh of relief when we get past 40 points each season and if at the start of this season if you’d have offered me 5th place and winning the FA Cup I’d have bitten your hand off! To miss 4th place this year would be disappointing of course but not unexpected, Well done Chelsea for last night210
Comment posted by shaun, today at 07:15shaun
07:15Since we got to the cup final I said i’d be happy with a cup final win and fifth place, and I still haven’t changed my mind221
Comment posted by TheGMen, today at 06:33TheGMen
06:33A very disappointing performance from Leicester but Chelsea were the better team.
The hangover from winning the FA Cup seemed more like a season over from the Leicester players who showed little fight or creativity.
Maybe the FA Cup Final took more out of Leicester than they imagined.
It feels like the force is with Liverpool.
232
Comment posted by Aylix, today at 06:20Aylix
06:20Team talk from Rodgers at the weekend “Don’t worry lads…it’s only spurs”254
Comment posted by Oahu, today at 07:46Oahu
07:46FA Cup win and Europa League is perfect for Leicester. It is hard to watch them stumble out of the top 4, but I think it’s a blessing in disguise. They should still get Thursday nights in Europe and have a big cup win. Excellent result.160