Chelsea take on Southampton in the Carabao Cup in midweek and all eyes will be on Thomas Tuchel to see if he selects Saul Niguez or not.
The 26-year-old has been struggling for game time at Stamford Bridge but with N’Golo Kante missing out, Saul was more or less a guaranteed starter.
Tuchel was expected to rest players like Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic vs the Saints so automatically Saul Niguez would have moved up the pecking order.
That plan though might have hit a major roadblock since the Chelsea boss has revealed that Kante is back to full fitness and is available for selection on Tuesday.
‘The game[Norwich] was too early,’ said the boss, as per Chelseafc.com. ‘He [Kante] did the full training on Friday and after training, he said he feels his muscles a bit tight.
‘He went to the physios for massages and for some treatment and he actually wanted to wait until Saturday in the morning to take the decision. I said no, it’s such an early game tomorrow, the possibility that it will change is not so high.
‘I said take your time and it was simply one day too early. If the match would have been on Sunday he would have played. So he is fully available for Tuesday and for Newcastle.’
Will Saul Niguez start against Southampton?
Saul Niguez has a really great chance of making only his second start at Chelsea but now that N’Golo Kante is fully fit, we don’t think Tuchel is going to use the Atletico man.
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The loan signing has endured a really tough time in England and his only start for Chelsea came against Aston Villa in this very same competition.
This would have been the ideal game for him to get some game time under his belt and since the Saints are a top division side, it would have done him a world of good.
But if Kante is seriously back to match fitness then we think the Chelsea boss is going to use him in his starting line up on Tuesday.
We are definitely not ruling out the fact that Saul Niguez can start but if Tuchel is going after silverwares then we don’t think he is going to use 26-year-old from the very first minute.
