Friday, October 22, 2021 at 6:41 PM• Mart van Mourik

Manager Thomas Tuchel has provided an update on Hakim Ziyech’s fitness. At the press conference the day before the Premier League match with Norwich City, the Chelsea coach answers the question of what is wrong with the Moroccan international. “There is something, consciously or unconsciously, that restricts his mobility on the field,” said Tuchel, who also spoke about the seriousness of the injuries of Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner.

Ziyech scored a crucial goal in the opening game of the new season in the battle for the European Super Cup against Villarreal, which was defeated 2-1 after extra time. In that game, the attacking midfielder left the field after 42 minutes with a shoulder injury, from which he recovered two weeks later. Still, it seems that Ziyech feels ‘not yet one hundred percent’, the coach says during the press moment. Since his shoulder injury, the midfielder has played minutes in just five games and was absent due to illness from last Premier League game. In the Champions League match against Malmö FF, Ziyech stayed on the bench for 90 minutes.

“What’s wrong with him?” Tuchel responds to the press conference. “At the start of the season, he clearly showed why he deserved a place on the field. But since his shoulder injury, I felt it was taking a lot of effort for him to fight back into the team. Although he has already recovered and he is in no pain, it feels to me as if, unconsciously or subconsciously, he cannot play freely. There is something that limits his freedom to move, accelerate and temporize freely. I think he needs time to fight back in the team. That’s how it is. During his absence, his replacements performed excellently. But he is one of us and we will never give up trust in him and patience with him. He remains an important player,” said the manager.

Tuchel also came with an update about the injured Lukaku and Werner. Both strikers left the field early in the win against Malmö (4-0) and will not be in the game against Norwich City, the coach said. “They are not available for tomorrow’s game and they are not playing against Southampton. There’s no point in speculating further about how long they may or may not be disabled. They are both positive and not too worried. They will certainly not be there for the next two matches, and after that we will see,” said Tuchel.


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