Our last two league fixtures at Stamford Bridge have both ended in losses for the Blues, against Brentford and Arsenal, while Liverpool and Man City have recorded further victories at their home stadiums to leave us 14 points behind the top two in the table, albeit with games in hand over both the sides above us, including today’s visit of West Ham United.

Going into the next home game, our head coach believes we need to start making the Bridge an impossible place for opponents to come and pick up points if we are to close the gap between ourselves and the top of the Premier League table, believing we have the desire and talent to compete for the title again.

‘We tried hard,’ said Tuchel. ‘I would say that I tried everything and I would say that everybody in the building tried everything and the players as well. There is room for improvement and the gap is big but we are competing with maybe the two most successful teams that ever played in this league, so the stakes are high.

‘Given the last two defeats here at home at Stamford Bridge, the gap is bigger than it should be. Before that it was bigger than it should be and I think it was due to circumstances, not due to our effort or quality. It could have been smaller.

‘At some point the gap opened. You see now dramatically in the last two games against Brentford and Arsenal why the gap is that big. City and Liverpool don’t have these matches in their season.

‘We are ninth in the home table, we conceded second-half goals to draw against Burnley and Everton and they were absolutely games where we dominated, where we had big chances, where we struggled to convert our chances. From there the gap was growing, but we have to stay in the moment.’

Given that Liverpool haven’t dropped a single point at Anfield since October, and Man City have only done so at the Etihad Stadium in two matches during that time, one of which was a draw with the Merseyside club, it is clear their home form provides them with an advantage over the course of the season.

However, our performances in games against them this season give Tuchel hope that we can equal their impressive consistency, both as a team and individually.

‘There is the difference. They are relentless in their results and they don’t allow much and we are more fragile at the moment. When we play, for example, against Liverpool in home matches since I’ve been here, the gap is very close and we give them a hard time. They have a hard time against us, we have a hard time against them.

‘So it is the consistency, it is the consistency in the performance but if you look at individual performances and you look at the top goalscorers and assists in the league, you find a lot of Liverpool players who are the very top of everything. We struggle to have these kind of numbers.’

Despite falling behind the two-way title fight in the Premier League this season, Tuchel as no regrets about targeting Liverpool and Manchester City as where his Chelsea team should be, as he believes it is better to aim high and fall short than settle for easier goals.

‘The effort is there, the ambition is there and it’s no problem to be ambitious and to maybe not reach it. It would not suit us if we played it down and told everybody before the season that we open the bottles of champagne if we are fourth. No, we tried, we tried hard.

‘Right now we have to again be the best that we can be. There is room for improvement, of course, and we will be ready for a good fight from next season on, because right now the gap is too big.

‘We do not feel ashamed and we should not feel ashamed and we should not feel so disappointed that it holds us back to be good now, because there’s no shame in it. In general it is very tough to end up in the top four in this league and from there we will try to compete.’