Chelsea stars Kepa Arrizabalaga and Antonio Rudiger were reportedly involved in a training ground scuffle – and tensions between the two are alleged to have been strained during the West Brom thrashing.
The Blues suffered a humiliating 5-2 defeat against the relegation-threatened Baggies at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, their first loss under Thomas Tuchel.
Both Arrizabalaga and Rudiger were left to watch the team’s capitulation from the bench, but it is reported that they were involved in a bit of needle on the sidelines.
According to The Athletic, the substitute goalkeeper gave the German centre-back a few choice words while the game was going on.
The next day in training things boiled over after they both went for the same ball, with ‘a lot of pushing and shoving’ involved, the report claims.
The Athletic cites an un-named source who claimed: “Rudiger showed Kepa who’s boss.” After a shouting match, things reportedly turned physical and the two were involved in a physical scuffle.
That wasn’t the only altercation over the weekend, however.
Cesar Azpilicueta is believed to have argued with Reece James in the dressing room immediately after the clash.
The Spaniard apparently felt that James was to blame for West Brom’s second goal, after he failed to take the ball from goalscorer Mathaus Pereira on the edge of the box before he slotted into the bottom corner.
Chelsea will now have to rebuild quickly ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League tie against Porto, and Tuchel expressed he wants to see a reaction from his players.
“Individually, our defending was not at the level we have become used to from the guys and we need to improve in that sense,” he said.
“It was one of those games where there was a lot of drama in the sense that if things could go wrong, they did go wrong. We got a red card, conceded two goals just before half-time and then we got an injury at half-time to Christian. In the second half, pretty much every shot they had was a goal.
“We had a few chances for ourselves but pretty quickly we had the feeling that this was not going to be the day where we could turn the score around.”
