Chelsea Vs Zenit: The Blues Without N'Golo Kante And Christian Pulisic

N'Golo Kante (Instagram @nglkante)

JAKARTA - Thomas Tuchel confirmed Chelsea will not be strengthened by N'Golo Kante and winger Christian Pulisic at home to Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League Group H opener at Stamford Bridge, Tuesday local time.

Pulisic has yet to rejoin Chelsea's training sessions after sustaining a wrist injury while playing for the United States in the CONCACAF 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

"Christian didn't train with us today," Tuchel told a pre-match press conference.

This mentality. Who else can't wait to kick off our #UCL defense tomorrow night on home soil? ️

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"We have said we will wait for him to return from the international break and give him a period of 10 days and recovery before returning to the pitch. He is still in the process of recovering and individual training sessions, so he is not ready yet," he added.

Tuchel also admits he is not willing to take the risk of rushing into Kante after he returned from France injured and missed Chelsea's win over Aston Villa last Saturday.

"N'Golo has attended two team training sessions, but this Champions League game feels too early for him to return," said Tuchel.

The French midfielder is expected to have recovered enough when Chelsea travel to Tottenham Hotspur's headquarters this weekend.

A number of names, such as Malang Sarr, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley have the potential to get the opportunity to play from Tuchel after being confirmed in the squad for tomorrow's match against Zenit.

Chelsea started their struggle to defend their Champions League title against Zenit in Group H, where they are also joined by Juventus and Swedish representatives Malmo FF.