Thomas Tuchel provides injury update and reveals the return of Chelsea ace Jorginho ahead of Leeds United tie
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by football.london, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel revealed that four Blues stars are currently out through injury, but Jorginho will return to face Leeds United.
The German boss is arguably facing the most challenging period of his managerial tenure in West London. It has been relatively smooth sailing for him since the start of the year but a number of injuries in the past couple of weeks has resulted in a poor run of results for our team.
Regardless, the Blues shall be gearing up to face Marcelo Bielsa & co on Saturday. Tuchel revealed that Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell, and N’Golo Kante are still injured. However, he revealed that Jorginho has returned to training.
“Trevoh Chalobah is still out, Kovacic is obviously out, N’Golo Kante out for tomorrow, and Ben Chilwell too. Jorginho did the last two training sessions and will do what he did the last game, play through pain.”
Tuchel provided another injury boost as he revealed that Kante could return to training on Tuesday.
“It is likely too long a break again, and we hope that he (Kante) comes back to team training on Tuesday.”
The gaffer also addressed the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 and revealed that everybody is healthy apart from Mateo Kovacic, who tested positive a day before the game against Zenit.
“Everybody at the moment is healthy apart from Mateo Kovacic. We were tested when we arrived from Russia…Everybody is aware of the situation, it is not a joke. It is real.”
Finally, some good news!
Our form in the past couple of weeks has been nothing short of an eye-opener. Our second-string side is not good enough to pull off victories week in, week out and it’s clear we need more experienced heads, especially in midfield.
Reece James and Ross Barkley were fielded on Wednesday night, and it was far from a top display from the duo. Regardless, the return of Jorginho is excellent news. Although he was at fault for the goals conceded against Man United and West Ham, he remains an integral cog in the team.
Moreover, it bodes well for us that Kante too shall return by Tuesday. The Blues are set to host Everton at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night before going to the Molineux on Sunday to play Wolves. If the French international can make it to any of these games, it would be a huge boost.
Victories are more important than performances at the moment since we are trailing Liverpool and Man City in the table. Leeds are a strong side, and it is important to seal a win on Saturday if we hope to mount a serious title challenge this season.
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It remains to be seen what team Tuchel fields against the Peacocks, but fans would probably appreciate it if there was no extreme experimentation and that we stuck to field our best available players in their best positions.
Leeds are hovering around the relegation zone and are a side that we, as title challengers, should be able to beat no matter how many injured stars we may be missing.