If Chelsea’s attacking players operated with quite the same ruthlessness as the man pulling their strings then perhaps they would be reflecting on something more substantial than the maintenance of an unbeaten run.
For that, consider the brooding sight of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who returned to his seat in Row L approximately half an hour after he left it to come on as a substitute. He sat under his pale blue hood processing the indignity of it all, while a few yards in front Thomas Tuchel did some huffing and puffing of his own.
It was that kind of day, and quite possibly the German’s most frustrating since he took over a few weeks back.