Revealed: Full Chelsea squad for Liverpool clash as Tuchel faces Lukaku worrying decision
Thomas Tuchel will be looking to capture his fourth FA Cup championship as Chelsea manager when his club faces Liverpool in the final on Saturday afternoon. Since joining at Stamford Bridge, he has won the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup, but the FA Cup has eluded him thus far.
Jurgen Klopp, the formidable presence of Liverpool, stands in their way. The Reds are still in contention to win four trophies and achieve a historic quadruple this season, but each of their meetings this season has been closely contested, and this one will be no different.
However, just before the game, Chelsea were dealt an unexpected diversion when Romelu Lukaku’s representative spoke to the press about his client’s future. Tuchel remained calm throughout the situation, even considering if Kai Havertz could join the Belgian in attack, which will irritate the coaching staff.
“I was only made aware of it five or 10 minutes ago, actually,” he told his pre-match press conference on Friday. “It’s what sometimes happens in football. The attention is so high that sometimes it attracts situations that you don’t want to have before big matches. It’s the way it is. For me, it is not a distraction and hopefully, for everybody that works on the team and the team itself, it is not.”
Tuchel was asked whether Lukaku and Havertz could both start against Liverpool: “Yes, we can also play both, although they lacked a bit of the feeling of being a perfect fit together. It’s very likely that it is one of the two, but we will not give the line-up today. Listen, Romelu has played lately and scored lately. He did everything to stay on the pitch. Will be our final call in the morning.”
Below are the full squad available to Tuchel for today’s game:
Goalkeepers: Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Marcus Bettinelli
Defenders: Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr, Thiago Silva, Marcos Alonso, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen
Midfielders: Saul Niguez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley, N’Golo Kante
Forwards: Kenedy, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner