Chelsea star Romelu Lukaku unlikely to start against Manchester United as Thomas Tuchel provides injury news
Speaking in his pre-match press conference (h/t football.london), Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel provided the latest injury news on several players, including Romelu Lukaku, ahead of their riveting tie against Manchester United on Sunday.
The Blues had a terrific week as our side defeated Leicester 3-0 on the weekend before handing Juventus their biggest loss in the Champions League. However, the victory against the Old Lady came at a price.
N’Golo Kante was brought off in the first half before Ben Chilwell limped off the pitch in the second. In addition, Mateo Kovacic has not featured for the club since the league cup victory against Southampton. Romelu Lukaku also suffered an injury in the first tie against Malmo but was on the bench in the midweek match against Juventus.
Tuchel has now provided an update on each of these players ahead of the clash against Man United.
“Kovacic is still out for the game on Sunday. N’Golo twisted his knee a little bit against Juventus and feels better, but it seems he will be out for some days… Ben is out, he has a partial tear of his ACL, and the decision is to treat it conservatively. The next six weeks will tell the story if he makes it and be available or if he will need surgery.
“The possibility he (Lukaku) starts is not very high because we cannot be sure what happens in the match, and we have to find the balance to giving minutes and being absolutely competitive for 90 minutes.”
Chelsea could suffer from the loss of Chilwell
There were a lot of question marks at the start of the season when Marcos Alonso was repeatedly chosen ahead of Chilwell. But the selection was fair, given that the Spaniard had a longer pre-season than the Englishman.
The former Leicester full-back eventually got his chance against Southampton at the start of October. He made sure to make it count as he scored his first goal of the season. In the following weeks, he found the back of the net against Brentford and Norwich before bagging his first assist against the Foxes last weekend.
Thus, his involvement has been key, especially when Lukaku and Werner were out injured. The Blues do possess Alonso as a backup, while Cesar Azpilicueta is also a worthy option. However, neither Spaniard has shown performances that indicate their prowess in the attacking as well as defensive phase. Alonso is a vital threat going forward but can be a liability at the back at times. Azpilicueta is a rock in the defence but lacks that attacking exuberance that Alonson and Chilwell possess.
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The West London outfit shall be hoping that he is only out for six weeks as they gear up to play 10 games before the end of 2021- a testing run of games as they aim to defend their UCL crown while also making a push for their first Premier League title since 2017.