Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel provides fitness verdict on Cesar Azpilicueta and Timo Werner
According to the Chelsea official site, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that club captain César Azpilicueta and striker Timo Werner are doubtful for the Premier League clash vs Crystal Palace.
Being the club captain, the pressure has always been very high on Azpilicueta. The Spaniard to his credit has risen to the challenge and impressed consistently. Having led the club to the Club World Cup trophy, he became our first player to get his hands on all the major titles.
Tuchel had to shuffle the veteran’s position several times this season in an attempt to cover up for injury setbacks. However, the type of performance the 32-year-old has put in the 30 appearances across all competitions suggests that his presence on the field is crucial for our team’s success.
However, it seems our German manager has to find a way to tackle Palace sans his reliable skipper. In his latest press conference, Tuchel revealed that the Spaniard felt something after training and his involvement against Palace now depends on further assessments.
“We have some doubts with Azpilicueta. We need to check today as he felt a bit of discomfort after training the day before yesterday, so we need to see in training.”
Timo Werner has endured a difficult season, scoring just one goal and one assist in 11 Premier League appearances. Even though he hasn’t been his best self in this campaign, his presence provides our manager with quality in depth to call upon when needed.
As things stand, the German frontman is struggling from a cold. Even though Tuchel didn’t reveal the extent of the fitness issue, he suggested that the clash against Palace might have come a tad too early for the 25-year-old.
“To add, Timo Werner came back from catching a cold, so it seems like tomorrow comes a little too early.”
Can the players bounce back in time?
Both Azpilicueta and Werner are crucial members of the squad, despite their current performances in this term. That’s why both of the injuries only add to the pile of issues adding to our concerns at this moment in time.
Thankfully, we should have enough in the tank to get the better of Palace even without the duo. We have bigger fish to fry in the coming weeks and will hopefully have all our major players fit and raring to go.
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After the Crystal Palace clash, we are scheduled to face Ligue 1 giants LOSC Lille in the Champions League round-of-16 first-leg next Wednesday. Hopefully, Azpilicueta and Werner will recover in time and go on to play a major role in our title defence.