Tammy Abraham and Ben Chilwell celebrate a Chelsea goal together. (imago Images)
Speaking to BT Sport (h/t football.london) before the FA Cup final kicked off on Saturday, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel stated why Marcos Alonso made the starting line-up at left-back instead of Ben Chilwell.
The English left-back was preferred to start under Frank Lampard. However, it is the Spaniard that has found a new lease of life under the German gaffer since his appointment in January, although Chilwell has been preferred of late under Tuchel as well.
Nevertheless, the 24-year-old was not in the starting XI despite having started 3 of Chelsea’s last 4 Premier League games and playing both legs against FC Porto and Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.
And Tuchel explained that Chilwell was left out to start against his former side because he wanted to utilize what Alonso would bring to the squad, especially on set pieces.
“We go for Marcos for a bit more height, more stability at set-pieces and a bit more experience.”
Another expected exclusion was that of Tammy Abraham. The English striker has dropped down the pecking order considerably since the former PSG boss took in charge.
He is still the club’s top scorer this season with 12 goals and scored in the 4th and 5th round FA Cup wins for the Blues. But the German, speaking to Stadium Astro (h/t football.london) after the 1-0 defeat to the Foxes in the final, said that his exclusion was just down to a very large squad at his disposal.
“No, it’s just hard decisions on a matchday when you can only nominate 18 players.”
Chilwell did come on in the 68th minute when the Blues were 1-0 down to a Youri Tielemans goal while Abraham, who was completely left out of the matchday squad, had to watch Olivier Giroud replace Timo Werner in the later stages of the game.
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