Chelsea boss Tuchel - 'We were lucky. We should admit it.'

The Blues were below par and needed a goal from substitute Hakim Ziyech to beat the Hornets.

Chelsea thrashed Watford 2-1 [GETTY]

Chelsea would have slipped to third had they drawn - but Ziyech ensured they are still table toppers.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said they were "lucky" to have secured a 2-1 win over Watford at Vicarage Road on Wednesday night.

Watford had two opportunities to open the scoring before midfielder Mount broke the deadlock.

The west London club were not in top gear for the game against Claudio Ranieri’s Hornets yesterday as they had to wait on substitute Hakim Ziyech to fire in the winning goal after forward Emmanuel Dennis cancelled out Mason Mount's opener.

This was Chelsea's fifth straight Premier League away win, which means they remain top of the English top-flight, with title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool still on their heels.

“We were lucky. We should admit it," Tuchel to BBC Sport. "Sometimes you need it. Today we could not reach this level. We were not ready for this game. We are to blame. We never found the right attitude. It was a big exception from the rule.

“We never found the minutes. It got a bit better in the second half. We conceded a lot of chances in first half and did not create much. The two situations we had, we scored. We were very lucky to escape with the win.

“Maybe I didn’t find the right approach. It felt like we were not ready for the long balls, the pressure. When we won the ball, how to escape out of the pressure. We had big problems individually and as a team. We never felt solid. It felt like we were never in control.

“The second half was a bit better. We showed the mentality to do what is necessary. I don’t want to be too harsh but I want to admit Watford played strong.

“We need a lot of points if we want to stay in title race. We felt like we lost two points against Burnley and Manchester United. We stole minimum two, maybe three back today. It feels like today we showed when we scored some quality. Overall we can do much better. There are some reasons - we have injured players and some key players due to overload were not on the pitch. I don’t want to be too critical. Watford deserved more.”

On Reece James’ injury, the German replied: "I cannot say today. Yesterday he was in too much pain to travel. He got a kick on the ankle.”

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