Ahead Of The Match Against Brentford, Tuchel Is Confused, Many Chelsea Players Are Injured And Get COVID-19
JAKARTA - Chelsea must find solutions on the pitch despite not having a full squad, manager Thomas Tuchel said on Wednesday. The London club are preparing for a hectic period of year-end matches when a number of players are still injured or have contracted COVID-19.
Chelsea had only four players available on the bench during Sunday's goalless draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League after seven members of their squad tested positive for the coronavirus.
Last Monday, the Premier League agreed to resume fixtures despite several matches being postponed last weekend due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. Tuchel also admitted that he was not disappointed with the decision.
"I don't have a solution for the whole league game and schedule," Tuchel said before his EFL Cup quarter-final against Brentford. "I don't know. Maybe (the break) just delays the problem."
"But we are also a bit disappointed that we don't have enough players to live up to our expectations and to be able to play at the highest level of competitive football."
Jorginho returned to training after testing negative for COVID-19, but N'Golo Kante was ruled out against Brentford due to failing to recover from a knee injury. Andreas Christensen and Trevoh Chlobah are also doubtful because they are still injured.
"N'Golo Kante played 90 minutes against Wolves," said Tuchel. "But will he be in the squad tomorrow? No." "We have now given him time to recover and prepare for Aston Villa (in Sunday's Premier League game)."
Tuchel said the Under-23s trained with the first-team squad as Chelsea prepare to play three games in eight days during the upcoming busy period.
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"It's not new to play three games a week but without nine or 10 players it's definitely challenging, so we have a bit of difficulty. But we will find a solution."
Last weekend's Premier League match against Southampton was postponed due to a rise in COVID-19 cases affecting players and staff. But manager Thomas Frank said they had no cases ahead of the game against Chelsea.
"We are in a good place... We closed our training ground last Thursday and that helped us break the chain of transmission of the virus. From six or seven positive cases last Thursday ... now we have zero cases today," he said, quoted by Reuters.