Paul Merson: Tuchel is currently "walking on thin ice"

Paul Merson dismissed the claim that Chelsea were in a "crisis", but acknowledged that Thomas Tuchel is currently "walking on thin ice".

The German took over from Chelsea in early 2021. They had a brilliant finish to the 2020/21 season, winning the Champions League.

The Blues are on track to win the Premier League title this season, but they are currently in poor form.

Chelsea have won just two of their last eight games in the league. They are now 12 points behind Manchester City and Guardiola's side have played one less game.

There is an eight-point gap between Tuchel's side and the fifth place, but they play more games than the team below them.

On Sunday, they will face Antonio Conte's Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge. Merson believes this weekend's game will be an important one for Chelsea because they are "short-lived":

"Thomas Tuchel walked on thin ice. If Chelsea don't finish in the top four, he has no chance of staying at Chelsea," Merson wrote for the Daily Star.

"But they will. They were short-lived, but he wasn't under a lot of pressure. He won the Champions League for them last year.

"Chelsea have won trophies and even though the Premier League is over, they can still win trophies this season.

"But it's not good now. It's a big game this weekend because Tottenham Have four games to play and if they win they can actually sneak around.

"Tuchel said Chelsea were tired and he was right. They went through everything. They didn't cancel the tournament like most other clubs.

"People say they have a big squad but players who have to come in are not as good as players who start every week.

"You need the best players. But when the other teams took free action, they had already started. I think it just caught up with them.

"They missed the full-backs badly. But isn't that a crisis? They are still important players in the Champions League and they are playing in the League Cup final. ”