Player News: Chelsea star Christian Pulisic takes special private jet for Premier League clash vs Brentford
According to The Sun, Chelsea star Christian Pulisic took a private jet shortly after United States’ 2-0 loss against Costa Rica to be back in time for the game against Brentford in the Premier League tomorrow. The fixture will take place at Stamford Bridge, but the attacker could be out of contention due to jet lag following a long journey back from international duty.
Pulisic featured and captained the US national team on Thursday against Costa Rica as they achieved qualification for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. He is apparently desperate to play in the PL saw him quickly jet back to join up with the Blues. However, it remains to be seen if Tuchel picks him considering the jet lag.
The 23-year-old forward will have to deal with a seven-hour time difference, alongside the 5,417 miles trip back, which could affect him. He could take a couple of days to fully recover from it. That being said, the winger could still make it among the bench for the clash against the Bees.
Still a chance?
It is understandable if the German coach decided not to use the US international tomorrow. After all, the attacker may not be at his best self due to travel lag and resting him may be the best option moving forward. Then again, we can also see the winger make the bench if the boss does not want to risk it.
Placing the former Borussia Dortmund man on the bench would perhaps be the safest route we can take, knowing we have ample cover in those positions as of now. The American star can still offer a lot coming on as a sub and his exploits on the wing with fresh legs would be a nightmare for many defenders.
With the Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid looming close, we need our players to be at their best. As such, resting Pulisic would then ensure that he is perhaps in his best physical condition when we take on Los Galacticos in our bid to defend our UCL crown.
Our opponents have not been at their best in the second half of the season, so we should have this game under control despite the North American superstar’s absence. The West London side did face a strong challenge from the visitors last time around in the PL when they narrowly won 1-0 away from home, so they should not take this game for granted.
However, three points should be in our bag when comparing our form to theirs before the international break. Then again, such factors do not matter much after a breakage in the season, so it will be interesting to see how the league fixture will pan out tomorrow. We hope to be the victors at the end of the day with or without Pulisic’s involvement.
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Tuchel must also take care that resting or managing players’ gametime for the UCL fixtures doesn’t result in us fielding a considerably weaker team in the domestic games. We are still going strong in the FA Cup and have an outside chance at the title, so we should be at our best no matter who the opponents are- of course, with minor changes here and there that ensure we remain a competitive side on the day.