Thomas Tuchel is concerned about the fitness of his players. Chelsea won 1-3 on Boxing Day visiting Aston Villa, despite Romelu Lukaku and Callum Hudson-Odoi being more or less forced to play in the manager’s words. “I am concerned about the health and safety of the players. That’s why I’m not over the moon,” said Tuchel at the press conference after the game at Villa Park.
“He played great,” the German coach analyzes Hudson-Odoi’s game, who played against Aston Villa for ninety minutes. “Normally he could have played a half or a maximum of sixty minutes. That was more than what the medical staff had advised. But he was strong in training, so that’s why I wanted him on the field. Hakim Ziyech had only trained once, Callum had participated in two and a half training sessions. So we kind of forced him to play with it. That was a risk, because he just came back from a corona infection.”
Ziyech was on the reserve bench for ninety minutes at Villa Park, after it was already uncertain in advance whether he would play due to an injury. Lukaku also started as a reserve, after being absent for three games due to a corona infection, and came into the field at half-time, after which he scored once. “I asked if he could play 45 minutes. That was more than the medical staff had recommended, but we felt we could take that risk. He has to get fit again and that is not easy. If you look at the scoresheet and read all the names, you might think: everyone is there, they have a top selection. That’s right, but if you look at the details, you see that we are taking huge risks.”
“There is no doubt that Lukaku is extremely important to us,” he wrote Goal up from Tuchel’s mouth. He also lost N’Golo Kanté and Thiago Silva to injuries during the game against Aston Villa. It seems that Tuchel cannot call on the duo in the home game against Brighton & Hove Albion, which is scheduled for Wednesday. “N’Golo is suffering in the same place as during the match against Juventus. Thiago has problems with his hamstrings. Hopefully he got out before it turned into an injury. We will try to put together another strong squad for Wednesday.”