Chelsea will have the chance to win the Champions League final this weekend if they can beat Manchester City but for that to happen, Thomas Tuchel will need all of his eleven players to come out with flying colours.
Ever since Tuchel has taken charge at the club, Chelsea have been rock-solid in defence but they have constantly failed to spice things up in the attacking departments. And according to pundit Robin Van Persie, the Blues boss will need to give more freedom to players like Kovacic and Ziyech if they want to get past Manchester City on Saturday.
Van Persie told Dutch daily De Telegraaf, as quoted: “It is actually a shame that the creativity of players such as Ziyech, [Christian] Pulisic or [Mateo] Kovacic, who I find is a great man, is not being expressed.
“Kovacic is their engine and playmaker. Ziyech also has those qualities further up the line, but he should have a much bigger role.
“He is now constantly searching, getting into the team in all positions, but it can’t be that difficult right? To give such a creative player a good position?
“Give Kovacic and Ziyech an important role in the team and let players such as [N’Golo] Kante and others play around him.”
Chelsea have conceded only 13 goals in 19 games since Thomas Tuchel has come into the club but at the same time, they have managed to score 25 goals. And this problem has come to the forefront many times in the past couple of weeks.
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Manchester City, on the other hand, have not only been steady in defence thanks to the partnership of Ruben Dias and John Stones but they have also been one of the most free-flowing attacking sides in the Premier League this season, scoring 83 goals in their 38 matches.
Kovacic is the most creative midfielder that Chelsea have in their squad right now but the manager is surely going to use Kante and Jorginho in that space just to shut down Manchester City and stop them from dominating the midfield area.
As far as Ziyech is concerned, the player has scored against Man City in both their previous meetings this season(in the FA Cup and the EPL) which is why he is likely to get the nod to start ahead of Christian Pulisic in the Champions League final.
