Sterile home form undoes Thomas Tuchel’s ‘fragile’ Chelsea side

Chelsea’s recent strife at Stamford Bridge is nothing new. They have struggled at home throughout Thomas Tuchel’s time in charge and the only thing that has changed since the manager’s opening game, a sterile goalless draw with Wolves 15 months ago, is that his side have become bad at defending as well as attacking.

This is an issue that runs deeper than the defensive implosions against Brentford, Real Madrid and Arsenal. There is more to it than the concession of 11 goals in three home games. This is not a sudden decline: it is a problem that has been festering for a while and for Tuchel it raises awkward questions over how he sets his team up given that Chelsea have earned only three more points than Everton at home this season.

Related: Tuchel struggles to make case for the defence as Chelsea flirt with chaos | Jacob Steinberg

There is no way to make the numbers look good. One statistic shows that Chelsea, with seven wins, five draws and three defeats, are ninth in the Premier League’s home table. Another reveals that Tuchel has the worst home record in the league of any Chelsea manager in the Roman Abramovich era. He has won 12, drawn eight and lost five games since replacing Frank Lampard, giving him a points-per-game tally of 1.76.

It is a far cry from the days when Stamford Bridge was a fortress. Chelsea made life hell for visiting teams after appointing José Mourinho in 2004 and went 86 games without defeat at home in the league before Liverpool ended their run in October 2008.

The fear factor is nowhere to be seen now. There have been flashes this season, most notably when they smashed Juventus 4-0 in the Champions League in November, but the performances have largely been flat in the final third.

There has to