Chelsea take on Zenit in the Champions League this week and as many as five first-team players will be absentees for this encounter.
Ben Chilwell is already on the sidelines while Kante and Trevoh Chalobah are also set to miss out. But now the Chelsea boss has revealed that Jorginho has also joined that list with a back problem.
Kovacic had just returned from injury and he was supposed to feature in some capacity on Wednesday. But the midfielder has unfortunately tested positive for COVID which means he will have to self-isolate.
‘We have a few players missing tomorrow,’ Tuchel said during his pre-match press conference. ‘Ben Chilwell is out, N’Golo is out, Trevoh Chalobah is out, Mateo Kovacic is out and Jorginho is out.
‘We haven’t made all our decisions yet because we’ve only just finished the last training session before we travel but we may make some changes because we have to think about Leeds on Saturday also.
‘We had some bad news with Kova. Mateo was in training yesterday with a big smile and it was a pure pleasure to have him back.
‘Unfortunately, we have had a setback with him because he has tested positive today for Coronavirus and is now self-isolating.
‘Jorginho is out with back pain and we played with that pain against West Ham United. He’s come from the Champions League final, the Euros and straight into the Super Cup, so we expected there to be a stage where he suffers a little with being overloaded.’
❌ Trevoh Chalobah
❌ Ben Chilwell
❌ N'Golo Kante
❌ Jorginho
❌ Mateo KovacicThe #Chelsea team news to face Zenit St Petersburg
strap yourself for another Watford style showdown 😩
We must suffer pic.twitter.com/I5nFFkd54L
— Sorensen 🇩🇰🇬🇧🏴 (@Honest_Cfc_Fan) December 7, 2021
Midfielder an area of concern for the Chelsea manager?
Since all three first-choice midfielders are out injured, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley are possibly going to pair up in central midfield and this is something which Tuchel won’t be too comfortable about.
RLC and Barkley have done well in bits and pieces this season but they have always played alongside either Jorginho or Kante in midfield. Now that they are set to pair up together, Chelsea might fail to dictate the pace of the game.
Thomas Tuchel also has the option of using Saul Niguez in that area but the 27-year-old has turned out to be a major flop. He’s looked all over the place whenever he’s been handed a place in the side and we are more than certain that the manager won’t even use him against Zenit.
On paper, Chelsea have a team that should beat Zenit comfortably but somehow if they fail to register a win then Juventus have the chance to move above them and finish as the Group H toppers, something which won’t be a comfortable scenario going into the knockout stages.
