According to Football.London, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is set to miss some very important players when his side take on West Ham United.
The Blues welcome London rivals West Ham United this weekend in the Premier League and their manager is going to have serious headaches in naming his strongest starting XI.
As per the report, Chelsea are going to miss Antonio Rudiger, Mateo Kovacic and also Andreas Christensen for Sunday’s key match.
Kovacic missed the Arsenal game due to a ligament injury and even Rudiger could not make it to the matchday squad due to groin pain.
Both these players are more or less ruled out from the West Ham United game and now Christensen’s name has also been added to the list after Wednesday’s match.
The defender was taken off at half-time against Arsenal and initially, everyone thought it was because of his poor performance in the 1st half. Later, the manager explained that the centre-back had actually picked up a knock.
Speaking after the match, Tuchel revealed: “He said he cannot continue, so I think he had some problems. I don’t take a player out because he makes one mistake.”
Andreas Christensen apologising for his mistake last night. pic.twitter.com/duXLtD52gS
— Frank Khalid (@FrankKhalidUK) April 21, 2022
The Blues are already missing Ben Chilwell and Hudson-Odoi and now these three additions will absolutely not help Tuchel’s cause.
West Ham United are bouncing after their recent Europa League endeavour and with so many players missing, Chelsea could really struggle to match up with David Moyes’ side.
How will the Chelsea manager cope with so many injuries?
Kovacic’s absence is a prominent blow because the likes of Kante, Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek cannot seem to bring the same creative spark as the Croatian.
Loftus-Cheek and N’Golo Kante paired up in midfield vs Arsenal and both of them had a really muted afternoon. Jorginho might replace Loftus-Cheek on Sunday but that will still not solve Chelsea’s creativity problem.
The injuries to Rudiger and Christensen are an even bigger cause of concern for the manager because, with the duo ruled out, someone like Malang Sarr or Chalobah will have to partner Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva in central defence.
While these two defenders have done fairly well this season against the likes of Bowen and Fornals, they could have a nightmare afternoon on Sunday.
