Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech will not be among Chelsea’s options this Saturday, Chelsea manager confirmed today.
Hakim Ziyech, who picked up an armed injury against Villarreal, lost his squad position against Crystal Palace. Ziyech is not alone, as the returning Lukaku will miss the opening match as well.
It is worth mentioning that the Moroccan international scored the winning goal for Chelsea, who snatched the Super Cup.
There are doubts regarding the shape of N’Golo Kante.
While Ziyech cannot join the team due to physical inability, Lukaku won’t join due to quarantine. The latter arrived England this week and has to go a quarantine before joining the Blues.
He arrived late due to delays in the transfer confirmation between the English club and Inter. Chelsea hoped to seal the deal at £97.5m earlier but could not.
“We’ve had some exchanges on the phone, exchanges of messages. But right now he is following the protocol and quarantining some more days,” said Tuchel in a pre-match press conference.
Tuchel expressed his delight on the arrival of the 28-year-old. And him arriving to Stamford Bridge will reinforce the squad of Tuchel. The latter stated “We’ll work on the details and we will be very happy when he is on the pitch.”
Chelsea missing and recovery
Chelsea medical staff confirmed that Ziyech will not need a shoulder surgery to speed up his returning to the pitch.
“The decision has been made to treat the injury conservatively,” told Chelsea’s manager.
Adding “At the moment, we don’t need surgery, which is very good news for this kind of problem. And we hope that it continues like this and he can be back on the pitch in the next two weeks.”
“We have some issues with Kante which we need to sort out,” Tuchel answered when asked about Kante’s status. The first doubted the participation of the French international, as he picked up a small injury.
The boss added “Physically, it was the worst thing that could happen to us.”
“Mentally and psychologically, it was the best thing because winning a penalty shoot-out gives an enormous boost of positive energy.”
The 47-year-old manager urged caution in the Premier League opening match.
Tuchel will make up his mind concerning the substitutes before the match, with the help of the physio department.
“We have to be careful,” said the German manager.
