Chelsea take on Brentford in the EFL Cup on Wednesday and both N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic are going to miss out, the manager has confirmed.
Kante has been in and out of the squad this season with a knee injury but he played the full 90 minutes vs Wolves during the weekend. And now his manager has admitted that risking him for the 0-0 draw was not such a good idea.
To make matters worse, Mateo Kovacic, who played in that game will also miss out on Wednesday which means Tuchel has a major selection crisis at hand right now.
The manager told the press: ‘What we did with N’Golo Kante for 90 minutes was close to irresponsible.
‘Will he be involved against Brentford? Simply no. We cannot do this and I will not do it. We will now give him time to recover and prepare for Aston Villa and this is the situation.
N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic we took a huge risk with, and we now are paying for this. Two matches in one week for them is simply impossible.’
Christensen and Trevoh Chalobah are also going to miss out against the Bees but the Chelsea boss has proper backups in that area so he won’t be too worried about this.
The manager added: ‘Andreas is very doubtful with injury and the same for Trevoh Chalobah. From the match, we have Chalobah a big doubt.’
Christensen and Chalobah both ruled out means Sarr and Azpilicueta will play in that defensive trio – if Thomas Tuchel is desperate to rest Thiago Silva.
Who will replace N’Golo Kante and Kovacic in midfield?
Thankfully, Jorginho has returned to training just at the right time so the Italian will move straight back into defensive midfield but finding a partner for him could be dicey.
❌ Ben Chilwell
❌ Andreas Christensen
❌ Trevoh Chalobah
✅ Jorginho
❌ N'Golo Kante [rested]
❌ Lewis Baker
❌ Kai Havertz
❌ Ruben Loftus-Cheek
❌ Callum Hudson-Odoi
❌ Timo Werner
❌ Romelu LukakuThe problems continue for Thomas Tuchel and #Chelsea ahead of Brentford… 🚑 pic.twitter.com/BD40H7XimR
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) December 21, 2021
Talking about Jorginho, the Chelsea boss said: ‘Jorginho had a negative test, it was a wrong positive, so he is back training.’
On Sunday, Chalobah played in midfield but if he is not available then Saul is probably going to come into the side.
Saul Niguez has been really poor this season and against a dominant and physical Brentford side, the summer arrival playing in central/defensive midfielder might be a recipe for disaster.
If Ruben Loftus-Cheek is back to full fitness then he will be the more sensible option to start alongside Jorginho in the middle of the pitch.
