Shearer scoffs at Chelsea boss Tuchel 'tiredness' claims: They were just poor | OneFootball

Former England captain Alan Shearer has rejected Thomas Tuchel's claims of fatigue being to blame for their draw with Brighton last night.

Chelsea laboured to an eighth draw of the season in another blow for their hopes of winning the title, with Hakim Ziyech's early long-range strike being cancelled out by an Adam Webster header.

Ziyech barely reacted after putting the team ahead, and Tuchel believes his squad were too tired to even celebrate in order to "save energy".

"Don't accept that, I'm not having that," Shearer told BT Sport.

"I get it's been a tough time for every football club in the world, they've all had very difficult circumstances, as has everyone, not just football.

"But he's got a bench tonight that's worth £220million. Kovacic, Havertz, Werner, Pulisic… [Tuchel] left Mount out on Saturday, brought Mount back in tonight."

Instead, Shearer feels the Blues are short on confidence and questioned the unity in the dressing rooom after Ziyech's moody response to scoring before being involved in a heated discussion with Romelu Lukaku.

"That performance, certainly going forward, was not a tired performance," he added.

"That performance going forward was a team that's really struggling on confidence and I'm not sure that they're all on the same page.

"That for me is why it was a poor performance."