The head coach has been speaking about trophy targets and the 13-game run without a loss (which is one better than Luiz Felipe Scolari managed at the start of his tenure as Blues boss in 2008), but first Tuchel reacts to the announcement yesterday that Chelsea Football Club is launching a new, wide-ranging No to Hate campaign, increasing the club’s efforts to fight all forms of racism and discrimination.‘It is a great thing to have and Mr. Abramovich initiated this campaign which is a great thing to do and absolutely the right thing to do,’ Tuchel said‘There should be no space for hate and racism in this society and for sure not in football. So this is the 100 per cent right thing to do and I am proud to be part of it as a part of Chelsea.’

Moving on, the boss is also eager to praise the club for the part it has played in his smooth start to his time here. Indeed he seems to want to make sure the credit for the undefeated beginning goes elsewhere.‘I am impressed with the club, I am impressed by the structure, I am impressed by the support from the first minute, and I am even impressed by the feeling I got from the first day when I arrived here,’ he lists.‘I am impressed by my team. This is the most important, the attitude of the players, their capability to play on an intensity level and I am impressed by their approach to training and games. This is an amazing experience for me so we never thought about what is possible, where is the limit.‘We go step by step, game by game, but to arrive as a coach with a team like this and at a club like this where everybody really thinks about football, thinks about how to win the next game and how to push the guys and to feel a bond between the players, it is a very unique atmosphere and approach to performance.

‘Being tired after training, being tired after games, to live every game up to the limit and to play at this level, this is truly impressive and in the end this is what makes it possible to have a series [of results] like this.’Tuchel concedes that to go 13 unbeaten needs a little luck along the way and some decisions to go in your favour, but he is clear the foundation for it all comes from the players and their attitude, and the structure of the club.‘So it is easy for me to play my part and do my best,’ he adds, ‘like everybody expects from me. It feels very good because it [the unbeaten run] feels deserved. I truly feel that everybody in the dressing room feels why we get these results, because we have a lot of input.’So can Chelsea go on to turn solid form into genuine success in the Champions League, where we now know we face Porto in the quarter-finals, and the FA Cup where Sheffield United stand in our way at the same stage?‘It is a bit like if you ask me on the first day can you be unbeaten in 13 games and do 11 clean sheets, I don’t know?’ is the Tuchel response to that question.

‘Maybe yes, maybe no. I can only tell you it is possible to win against Sheffield on Sunday but it is not easy. If you want to be in Wembley then you need to win this game, there is no other approach. But is it possible to win the FA Cup then yes, for sure. And is it possible to win the Champions League when you arrive in the quarter-finals, yes, for all eight teams it is possible.‘From then on admit it, put it aside or you just lose focus. The focus is performance, intensity, attitude, mentality against Sheffield United and nothing else, and then the first leg against Porto, and then the second leg, and then be ready every minute of the game because this is football, anything can happen.‘I am 100 per cent certain that Sheffield United arrives to beat us, and Porto arrives to beat us, so these are the challenges and then we will see where the limit is.’