Tuchel sends title warning to Chelsea players after 'lucky' win over Watford | OneFootball

Chelsea remain in top spot on the Premier League after surviving a scare in a 2-1 win over Watford.

The Blues are one point ahead of Manchester City and two points in front of Liverpool, with both clubs also winning on Wednesday.

Play was halted early on for around 30 minutes after a supporter in the crowd suffered a cardiac arrest, who is now reportedly in a hospital in a stable condition.

Once the game restarted, Mason Mount opened the scoring for Chelsea after 29 minutes thanks to a beautiful pass from Kai Havertz.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing for the Blues as Watford responded before half-time.

Nigeria international Emmanuel Dennis continued his fine form with a terrific finish past Edouard Mendy and restore hope to

Saul Niguez another difficult night as a Chelsea player after he was taken off at half-time and replaced with Thiago Silva.

With the game heading for a draw, Thomas Tuchel threw on Hakim Ziyech and Romelu Lukaku.

The move proved effective as Ziyech slotted home the winner after 72 minutes.

The Morocco international finished off a terrific team move and sublime cut-back from Mount to finish precisely past Daniel Bachmann.

Chelsea were very far from their best at Vicarage Road, but it is wins like these that ultimately prove decisive at the end of the season.

For Claudio Ranieri and Watford, it doesn't get any easier as they must now regather for Saturday's clash with champions Manchester City.

Speaking after the game, Chelsea boss Tuchel admitted his side were lucky to win.

"We were lucky. We should admit it. Sometimes you need it. Today we could not reach this level. We were not ready for this game," Tuchel told BBC Sport.

"We are to blame. We never found the right attitude. It was a big exception from the rule. We never found the minutes. It got a bit better in the second half. We conceded a lot of chances in first half and did not create much. The two situations we had, we scored. We were very lucky to escape with the win.

"Maybe I didn't find the right approach. It felt like we were not ready for the long balls, the pressure. When we won the ball, how to escape out of the pressure. We had big problems individually and as a team. We never felt solid. It felt like we were never in control.

"The second half was a bit better. We showed the mentality to do what is necessary. I don't want to be too harsh but I want to admit Watford played strong.

"We need a lot of points if we want to stay in title race. We felt like we lost two points against Burnley and Manchester United. We stole minimum two, maybe three back today. It feels like today we showed when we scored some quality.

"Overall we can do much better. There are some reasons - we have injured players and some key players due to overload were not on the pitch. I don't want to be too critical. Watford deserved more."