We host Leeds United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday off the back of three fixtures where the Blues have not been at our best. After having to fight hard to secure the victory away at Watford, we then dropped five points at West Ham United and Zenit St Petersburg despite leading in both games, surrendering top spot in the Premier League and our Champions League group in the process.

However, while Tuchel doesn’t believe the problems are huge, he refuses to bury his head in the sand and feels he has identified where our standards dropped in those three games.

‘In Watford, it was the first time I had the feeling that we were not ready to play the game and match the intensity right from the start that Watford brought to the game,’ explained our head coach. ‘We escaped nevertheless, we managed to win, we managed to grow into the game at an acceptable level at least.

‘West Ham was in the first half a very good game, the second half an okay match, but a terrible result for us, and at Zenit we had a lot of changes and let a win slip through our fingers in the very last minute. Let’s be honest, if you have the lead four times in two matches, and you leave with one point and six goals conceded, it’s not the moment to look away and pretend nothing’s happening.

‘It’s happening and I think it’s still a matter of details, it’s still a matter of small things and not to worry about the big picture. There are reasons for it. In the end we are not happy, the performances are not horrible, the performances are not bad. They are in some moments average and average looks kind of horrible when you play or work for Chelsea.

‘This can happen and it’s good that it feels like this, because we try to compete on the highest level, so we should not be surprised. I have the feeling that we dropped from good performances into normal, average performances when we lead. This is very unusual for us and this should not become common. We learn now hopefully twice from experience and have the chance to prove it tomorrow.’

The thing which seemed to upset Tuchel the most about those performances was that we gave up the lead by dropping our intensity after going ahead, as he is determined for his side to continue pressing our advantage regardless of the scoreline, preferring to take risks by looking to extend our lead rather than becoming too comfortable.

‘In general, even on the sideline, I had the feeling that we changed a bit in feeling maybe a bit too safe, feeling that it’s enough to play okay, to invest on an okay level, like on a 90 per cent level, and to still escape with the maximum outcome.

‘In general in life it’s about input with not knowing the outcome, this is what makes life interesting. This is where I think we came from and where we were so good, to invest everything and not being sure what the outcome is and we have to go back there. So to be ready to invest in the details, together as a group and as a whole team, and invest more.

‘Investing is not only by running, not only by sprinting, not only physical, it’s also a matter of concentration, of focus, of support, of positioning, so that we stay in these matches and we make sure that these goals are decisive goals and the lead is a decisive lead. We have to make sure, we cannot gamble on it, we cannot hope for it.

‘That’s not us and we should not go backwards and adjust our behaviour from the scoreboard. We are more than happy to take the risk and invest everything and then we see what the outcome is. This is what it is about in football, and maybe life in general. We cannot only focus on the result but we stay with the things we can influence. There is a slight space to improve, which we need to do.’

The German will be hoping his team show that in our next fixture, against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side and their distinctive style of play, which will present it’s own challenges for the Blues.

‘I expect intensity, I expect runs, man-marking in the opponent’s half, a very unique approach to football and to playing games,’ addes Tuchel. ‘It reminds me a bit also of Atalanta, but it’s very unique.

‘We need to be very strong individually, we need to be very strong in connections of two or three players. This is how we can impose our quality and this is what we need to do against his teams, against Leeds. It will not stop until you are in the shower so we need to be ready for that from the first to last minute.’