Thibaut Courtois does not want to play Chelsea in the Champions League quarterfinals. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Thomas Tuchel has issued the latest injury news on the Chelsea squad ahead of their clash against Manchester United. The Premier League match will take place tomorrow when his side will be looking to finally win a game at Old Trafford after a long time hiatus.
The Blues have several injury concerns coming into this fixture, with seven players being affected by setbacks. Speaking in the pre-match presser (h/t Chelsea official website), Tuchel has revealed that Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley, Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi would be certain absentees for tomorrow’s match.
“Kova will still be out, Ben Chilwell will be out, and Callum will still be out. Ross Barkley is sick as well and will not be in the squad.”
Fortunately, there was also some good news as the German boss has conveyed that Antonio Rudiger and Reece James returned to training yesterday. Tuchel added that he hopes to see Andreas Christensen join them today, although they will conduct another examination as the defender had felt sick recently.
“Toni Rudiger was in training yesterday, the same for Reece James. Hopefully, they can do the full training today and give us a green light. We have hopes they can be in the squad and play tomorrow. It’s the same for Andreas. We will need another examination because he felt sick. He will come back to the training ground today.”
Rudiger and James’ return will greatly be appreciated, considering how limited our defensive options have been. Fortunately, we may not need to worry about that for too long as the duo could yet make the trip to the Theatre of Dreams.
Christensen’s situation also gives us a sigh of relief despite his recent slump in form. After all, we need to have a good depth in the centre-back position because of the three-at-the-back system. We hope that the due diagnosis will go well and the central defender can smoothly return to team training today.
Chilwell has already been ruled out for the rest of this season, while Barkley is a forgotten man, having been cast aside by the 48-year-old coach. Hudson-Odoi’s situation still worries us, looking at how long it has taken for him to rehabilitate to get back into full fitness.
Finally, Kovacic would also be missed as he has arguably been our best midfielder this season. Despite the doubts and absentees, anything less than three points would be a major disappointment looking at the recent form of both teams. This game would help us end our dreadful run at Theatre of Dreams.
After all, the last time we won there was back in May 2013 with the help of a goal from Juan Mata to make it 1-0. We must drop an emphatic display against a struggling Man United side and make sure that we would not get dropped into the top four battle, which also involves Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
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