Chelsea take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday and there are big question marks over the selection of Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgian forward has been really poor this season, scoring only five goals in the Premier League so far and Thomas Tuchel finally decided to drop him to the bench during Chelsea’s UCL encounter.
The Blues beat Lille 2-0 on Tuesday night but Romelu Lukaku remained an unused sub in that match. And speaking after the win, Tuchel admitted that the forward was benched only cause he had to be taken out of the line of fire.
“This was not the moment after the match where everybody was focused on the few touches he had to put him right away into the next fire,” he said, as quoted.
Romelu Lukaku broke the record for the fewest touches in a Premier League game (7) for a player who has played the full 90 minutes since this data became available in 2003-04 😳 pic.twitter.com/lP0XHn8Ou2
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 20, 2022
“It was the moment to take a step back. That was the decision and you can clearly see we had a strong win but almost every question is about Romelu. The focus is huge.
“There are nine other players that didn’t play and we should never forget it is a team sport. I think he was tired, a little bit exhausted, lot of extra time, lot of travelling like some of the players.”
Will Romelu Lukaku play against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final?
It was sensible from Tuchel to rest Romelu Lukaku and he has admitted that the forward is going to be in contention to start on Sunday.
He added: “That was the decision today. For Sunday, we have four days to decide and to recover and of course Romelu has every chance to play.”
Thiago Silva on Romelu Lukaku situation: “He scored two key goals at the World Cup for us. We’re gonna try help Romelu, as we know his skills and how important he is for our team”, he told @SkySport. 🔵 #CFC
“Lukaku will be ready for the coming games, I’m sure”, Thiago added. pic.twitter.com/La716MGRG8
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 23, 2022
While Tuchel has not dropped any major selection hints but we have a feeling the manager might look to keep Romelu Lukaku on the bench once again.
Lukaku was getting starts despite his poor form because the league allows one time to readjust and recover but on Sunday, it’s a cup final so Tuchel will have very little margin for error.
He needs to get this spot on and if Romelu Lukaku puts out another stinker as he did against Palace then Liverpool will cruise to a victory.
Mason Mount is back from fitness so the Chelsea boss has another option for the attacking midfield area which means he should not have any issues using Kai Havertz in the centre-forward’s role once again.
We think both Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner are going to start on the bench against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday and will only be called up in the second half.
