Chelsea take on Watford in the Premier League on Wednesday and the Blues could be without half-a-dozen players for this encounter.
The trio of Ben Chilwell, Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante are already ruled out with various injuries and now the names of Reece James, Jorginho and Timo Werner have also been added to that list.
The manager said in his pre-match press conference: ‘For the game tomorrow at Watford, for sure we will be without Chilly, Kova and N’Golo who are all out and then we have some doubts over some other players that we need a bit more time on, to do some examinations on before deciding whether they can be involved.
‘Reece James, Jorginho and Timo Werner we will have to wait and then decide on. They all finished training with us today but there will be some last-minute decisions on those players for sure.
‘It will be challenging but it has been challenging before. We won’t change our routine.
‘We have a tight communication with the medical and fitness department and we tried to predict the load, look at who is overloaded and underloaded, and from there we see what we will need in the next game.’
Chelsea injury news: Major selection woes for Thomas Tuchel?
The fact that James, Werner and Jorginho all took part in training is a great sign for the Chelsea boss but with the domestic schedule getting tighter Tuchel will not want to take unnecessary risks with such key players.
Ben Chilwell – Out.
N'golo Kante – Out.
Mateo Kovacic – Out.
Reece James – Doubtful.
Jorginho – Doubtful.
Timo Werner – Doubtful.Saul and Ruben Loftus-Cheek expected to start in midfield with Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta expected to start as wing-backs. pic.twitter.com/CQPB6vzY7D
— Uber Chelsea FC (@UberChelseaFC_) November 30, 2021
The manager has backups for every injured player so naming a strong-enough starting XI should not be a problem for him. It’s just that if all the three players are not fit in time then Chelsea will have a significantly reduced bench strength.
But the fact that Watford are sitting 16th on the Premier League table is a sign that they are not expected to trouble Chelsea too much and even if the backup players can come up with half-decent performances, the London side should see this one through with the utmost ease.
While Chelsea have conceded only five goals this season, the Hornets have a goal difference of -6.
