Whatever happens when Chelsea visit Aston Villa on Sunday evening, Thomas Tuchel is bound to be in more of a festive mood than he was last year. “I’m very confident that I will survive Christmas with my job this year,” Tuchel said, thinking back to Paris Saint-Germain axing him on Christmas Eve 12 months ago. “We are in a fine place. We are not happy with the results we had in the home games: Burnley, Everton and Manchester United. But we are confident. We are competitive.”
The German’s spirits were high after Chelsea set up a Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham by winning 2-0 at Brentford on Wednesday night. After a week of fretting over positive Covid tests, suddenly the air felt a little lighter. Tuchel had seen Chelsea k…