Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea would have scored more goals against Villa if he’d started £50m man

Thomas Tuchel explained that Chelsea might have put more past Aston Villa on the weekend if Jorginho had featured from the first whistle.

Speaking to the club website, the Blues boss highlighted Jorginho’s significance to the side, referencing his substitute role in Saturday’s Premier League victory.

Chelsea managed to pick up a comprehensive 3-0 Stamford Bridge win over Villa at the weekend.

Romelu Lukaku smashed in a couple strikes into the Villan’s net, whilst Mateo Kovacic grabbed a rare personal accolade by scoring just his third goal for the Blues.

But the three points weren’t assured until Jorginho entered into the equation at half time, replacing debutant Saul Niguez.

The team regained control of the proceedings, enforced by their metronome midfielder.

In the end, Chelsea comfortably dispatched their guests, but couldn’t fully relax until the Italian’s cool presence came onto the pitch.

“It’s been mentioned many times around the well-deserved Player of the Year award and I have mentioned many times how he is capable of playing,” said Tuchel, in homage to Jorginho’s UEFA award last month.

“He is a very strategic player, he has a high volume, and with playing a lot he is full of confidence and he can implement a rhythm for our game and this is what he did.

“He has a strong connection with Thiago (Silva) to be strong in the build-up and to find the gaps behind the high pressing of Aston Villa and this is what we did.

“If we played with more composure, with more possession in the last third, earlier we would have been able to score maybe more.

“But this is what Jorginho does for us and that’s why he is important to us.”

This is not the first- and it definitely won’t be the last- time Jorginho has held Chelsea’s hand and walked them to a triumph.

His tranquil performance against Villa was almost the polar opposite to Saul’s first taste of the English top flight.

Tuchel chucked the Spaniard right in at the deep end, without a life jacket to hang onto.

The deadline day signing from Atletico Madrid looked out of his depth, repeatedly misplacing passes and losing possession.

Perhaps slightly unfairly the spotlight was instantly shone upon Saul, considering he only arrived from Madrid a fortnight ago.

He initially stepped in for Jorginho, who had played four hours of football over the international break.

Luckily, the £50m (BBC) man was fresh enough to take the burden from Saul’s hands at the interval.

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