Andreas Christensen was at the heart of the Chelsea defence that kept a clean sheet impressively, and the Dane continues to help make up for the absence of Thiago Silva through injury.‘Andreas stepped in during the middle of the first half versus Tottenham which was a tough thing to do, and from the first minute he is absolutely impressive,’ praised Tuchel after the defeat of Liverpool.‘He is brave, strong in individual challenges and very brave and intelligent in our build-up. He plays with a lot of confidence and I am absolutely happy with his performance. How he has stepped up is a big part of our performances.’Chelsea are unbeaten in 10 games under Tuchel and in our last 11 overall, with eight of them wins. This victory is up there with that 1-0 at Tottenham on a Thursday night a month ago as being against a direct rival for a top-four place, one of the positions Chelsea now occupy thanks to this Anfield win.

Andreas Christensen was at the heart of the Chelsea defence that kept a clean sheet impressively, and the Dane continues to help make up for the absence of Thiago Silva through injury.‘Andreas stepped in during the middle of the first half versus Tottenham which was a tough thing to do, and from the first minute he is absolutely impressive,’ praised Tuchel after the defeat of Liverpool.‘He is brave, strong in individual challenges and very brave and intelligent in our build-up. He plays with a lot of confidence and I am absolutely happy with his performance. How he has stepped up is a big part of our performances.’Chelsea are unbeaten in 10 games under Tuchel and in our last 11 overall, with eight of them wins. This victory is up there with that 1-0 at Tottenham on a Thursday night a month ago as being against a direct rival for a top-four place, one of the positions Chelsea now occupy thanks to this Anfield win.

Tuchel prefers not to rate individual matches on difficulty. Instead he looks at the consistent achievement.‘I am happy for every win we get and every result as I know how hard it is to keep on winning and defending and keeping clean sheets. I know what it takes and I know the team’s input at the moment is at high level and for that I am super happy.‘I am very honest and I still have a big regret about the draw in Southampton when I was not happy how we dropped two points, but in general I am absolutely happy. From the first day I felt part of the club and involved in the team. They are a pleasure to coach from the first minute because you can feel energy and feel the attitude, and all things needed for a football game. They are ready to play as team and fight for each other. We have a brave squad and they show up in difficult games and show up every four days.’

When it comes to being in the top four now, Tuchel is adamant the team must not lose focus by looking too far ahead.‘The only thing that helps, even if it is boring to hear, is to prepare for every game at the highest level because this league does not allow you to drop one per cent. If we want to keep going we have to refocus again towards Everton [the next game] and nothing else, and the rest will take care of itself.

'There are still 11 games to go, nothing is decided. We are in the race, we closed the gap quickly which was a big effort and with this competition and the Champions League and the FA Cup, it gives us no time to lay back and become too relaxed and I have a hungry group. I am hungry and we are not finished.’