Thomas Tuchel was grateful to have a match to focus on after Chelsea were plunged into uncertainty on Thursday with the freezing of club owner Roman Abramovich's assets.
Chelsea were in Norfolk to face Norwich City, emerging with a 3-1 win thanks to a professional display led by Mason Mount and Kai Havertz.
But earlier in the day it was confirmed by the British government that Abramovich was among the latest high-profile Russian individuals and entities to be hit with sanctions in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich, who has been photographed with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the past, was in the process of attempting to sell Chelsea, and the sanctions have put the sale in doubt despite the oligarch claiming the proceeds would have been donated to victims of the war.
While Chelsea have been granted a special sporting licence to continue operating as a football club, measures were placed upon them including a ban on selling merchandise and tickets to non-season-ticket holders.
It cast a shroud over Chelsea heading into Thursday's game, but Tuchel feels the fact they were already preparing for a match helped the squad keep their focus away from off-field matters.
Tuchel told BeIN Sports: "It's big news, huge impact of course, that's why it's big news. It is the subject of all the talk [in the squad].
"Normally we'd talk maybe about the Champions League games from yesterday but nobody talked about that, just the impacts of the new facts around the club.
"In the end it's also nice to enter a fixed schedule approaching a match. So, there's three-hours before [the game] we eat, and then we have a tactical meeting, then a set-piece meeting, then we go to the stadium.
"So, it helps you to focus because we're used to it. In the end we cannot influence it, we did not cause the situation, so we allowed ourselves to enjoy the fact we're here and are privileged to play football in the Premier League, and we wanted to show the best things.
"Sometimes it's good to sweat it out, so we tried to work hard, tried to convince the team to work really hard together and that's sometimes the best thing to get the focus back."
Certain sections of the Chelsea support have criticised the media for asking Tuchel about off-field matters since Abramovich announced he had put the club up for sale.
There have been suggestions Tuchel should only be asked questions relating specifically to the football his team play, but the German appeared relaxed about having to answer about off-field topics.
"I would love to talk about sports but I understand [the media] have a lot of questions," he continued.
"Unfortunately, I don't know much more than you, maybe it's the opposite, but we're also an entertainment and that's why it's like this."
Brentford 3-1 Southampton: Bees begin life after Toney with comfortable win
Brentford began life without Ivan Toney with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Southampton.
Bryan Mbeumo’s brace and a Yoane Wissa goal proved to be the difference between the two sides and condemned the Saints to their third straight loss since promotion back to the Premier League.
With departed striker Toney watching in the stands after his move to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, the hosts proved too strong for Russell Martin’s men. They created the superior chances and capitalised on an error-strewn performance from Southampton’s backline.
Mbeumo opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before doubling the lead halfway through the second period and Wissa then got on the scoresheet moments later to continue Brentford’s strong start to the campaign. Yukinari Sugawara bagged a consolation in injury time for the Saints.
Brentford sit in fifth place ahead of the first international break, while Southampton are second-bottom of the league table with zero points.
Data debrief: Wissa continues to prove effective at home
Wissa now has five goals and two assists in his last seven matches at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford have recorded consecutive home league wins for the first time since last November, and the first time in their opening home games since August 2018.
Brentford 3-1 Southampton: Bees begin life without Toney with comfortable win
Brentford began life without Ivan Toney with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Southampton.
Bryan Mbeumo’s brace and a Yoane Wissa goal proved to be the difference between the two sides and condemned the Saints to their third straight loss since promotion back to the Premier League.
With departed striker Toney watching in the stands after his move to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, the hosts proved too strong for Russell Martin’s men. They created the superior chances and capitalised on an error-strewn performance from Southampton’s backline.
Mbeumo opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before doubling the lead halfway through the second period and Wissa then got on the scoresheet moments later to continue Brentford’s strong start to the campaign. Yukinari Sugawara bagged a consolation in injury time for the Saints.
Brentford sit in fifth place ahead of the first international break, while Southampton are second-bottom of the league table with zero points.
Data debrief: Wissa continues to prove effective at home
Wissa now has five goals and two assists in his last seven matches at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford have recorded consecutive home league wins for the first time since last November, and the first time in their opening home games since August 2018.
Ten-man Blackburn hold out for draw at Burnley, Middlesbrough beat Cardiff
Blackburn held out for a 1-1 draw away to Burnley in the East Lancashire derby, despite playing the final 33 minutes of the match with 10 men.
Burnley opened the scoring after 10 minutes at Turf Moor after new signing Jaidon Anthony whipped in a perfect cross for Lyle Foster - who remains at the club following a potential move to Ipswich breaking down - to head home.
The home side dominated the early proceedings of the match and deservedly led until Blackburn struck against the run of play in the 23rd minute.
Forward Andi Weimann hit a sumptuous dipping shot from outside the penalty area, which looped over goalkeeper James Trafford, to level the scores.
Rovers thought they had retaken the lead soon after, but Tyrhys Dolan’s finish was disallowed for offside.
Makhtar Gueye was then sent off for a second bookable offence in the 57th minute, picking up his second yellow for dissent after making a card gesture at the referee following a heavy tackle from Maxime Esteve.
Burnley were unable to make their numerical advantage count, despite applying plenty of pressure in the late stages. Indeed, it was Blackburn who arguably came closest to winning the match, with Lewis Travis firing high and wide in the 96th minute after Dolan had played a loose ball to him.
The point leaves Blackburn and Burnley third and fourth respectively in the Championship.
Elsewhere in the early kick-offs in the second tier, Middlesbrough picked up their first league win since the opening day of the season as they beat Cardiff 2-0 on the road.
A second-half header from Matt Clarke and an Aaron Ramsey own goal secured the points for Michael Carrick’s side, although Ramsey did hit the post for the hosts. The win leaves Middlesbrough sixth, while Cardiff are bottom.
Norwich also claimed their first three points of the season, with a 1-0 victory away to Coventry.
Borja Sainz scored the winning goal after 49 minutes, with his shot taking a big deflection to wrong-foot the goalkeeper before landing in the goal.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
