Romelu Lukaku: Why is the Chelsea striker struggling to reproduce his best form for Thomas Tuchel's side?

Romelu Lukaku has only scored two goals in his last 12 Premier League appearances; Thomas Tuchel is struggling to get the best out of him; watch Chelsea vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports Premier 

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The visitors were in front courtesy of Ziyech's long-range strike but it had been another frustrating evening for Lukaku, something he appeared to be making known to his team-mate.

The second half followed a familiar pattern, both for Lukaku, who was substituted late on having only touched the ball 18 times, and for Chelsea, who made it 13 points dropped from winning positions this season with the concession of Brighton's equaliser.

Lukaku started the season strongly, scoring four goals in his first four appearances following his £97.5m move from Inter Milan in August, but an ankle injury in October hampered his progress and the intervening months have not been straightforward.

Lukaku's interview with Sky in Italy left him with work to do to repair relations with Chelsea's supporters but it was interesting nonetheless to hear the striker speak so openly.

His comments on Chelsea dominated the headlines but there was plenty more on Inter. He said his spell there had "saved his career" after a difficult period at Manchester United. Manager Antonio Conte was described as a "massive influence".

The success of his time in Italy, where he scored 64 goals in 95 appearances in all competitions and helped Inter win the Serie A title for the first time in over a decade, was down in large part to the way in which Conte configured his team.

It was geared to play to Lukaku's strengths. Conte rarely deviated from a 3-5-2 formation and Lukaku formed a formidable strike partnership with Lautaro Martinez. "I could die on the pitch for him," Lukaku told Sky in Italy of the Argentina international.

Tuchel's preferred system is similar to Conte's in the sense that it also consists of a back three, but there is a fundamental difference in attack, where Lukaku usually operates as a lone striker, flanked by two wide forwards, rather than in a front two.

This is problematic for Lukaku for several reasons.

Firstly, it means he is required to fulfil the duties of a target man, picking up possession with his back to goal in central areas, holding the ball up and feeding runners either side of him.

It is a role for which he appears physically well-suited but it is not one he relishes.

"The way I'm built - I'm quite big - everybody thinks I'm a sort of target man: just holding up the ball and being a goal poacher," he said in an interview with UEFA published in October.

"But I've never played that way and I hate it. My biggest strength is that I'm dangerous when I'm facing towards the goal, because that's when I rarely make wrong choices."