Romelu Lukaku's struggles at Chelsea no laughing matter for Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel urged everyone not to mock Romelu Lukaku after Chelsea’s record signing set a record for the fewest touches ever in a full Premier League game.

The German admitted Chelsea is a tough club for strikers to succeed as Lukaku threatens to join Andriy Shevchenko and Fernando Torres in the band of expensive underachievers at Stamford Bridge.

Lukaku struck in the semi-final and final of the Club World Cup but the £98 million man has not scored in his last six games against English clubs and only touched the ball seven times in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, and one of those was a kick-off.

The previous record holder was a goalkeeper, Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel, and the Belgian’s anonymous display prompted mockery.

But Tuchel said: “The data is out there and the data speaks a certain language. It is sometimes like this with strikers if they struggle with self-confidence and struggle to get involved against a good defensive side. It is not what we want or what Romelu wants but it is not a time to laugh about him or make jokes about him.”

Lukaku has only scored 10 goals in 28 games since returning to Stamford Bridge from Inter Milan last summer, bringing back memories of previous big buys who were expected to be prolific in the Chelsea attack.

CRYSTAL PALACE RATINGS: Vicente Guaita – 7. The Palace shot-stopper faced a busy start to the match after having been forced into a terrific save to keep out an effort from distance. Forced off at half time. AP Photo

The former Ballon d’Or winner Shevchenko only scored 22 goals in 77 games for Chelsea while Torres, who cost a then record £50 million, took 903 minutes of football to open his account and only ended up with 20 goals in 110 Premier League matches.

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