‘A moment to take that risk! Tuchel ready to gamble two Chelsea key players for FA Cup final
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he is willing to take chances with the health of N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final against Liverpool.
Kante was missing from the Blues’ Premier League triumph over Leeds United earlier this week, and Kovacic was replaced midway through the first half.
Tuchel told to the press ahead of the encounter at Wembley that he is willing to take risks in the match against Liverpool.
Daniel James was replaced after a dangerous challenge on Kovacic, prompting concerns about his availability for Saturday’s final.
“I tell you not as a coach or an expert but I think it’s very unlikely we see him (in the FA Cup final),” admitted the German after the Leeds match.
He added: “He’s not good. A lot of pain. The same ankle that was already injured. Very bad news on a very nice evening. We don’t like this. Hopefully I am wrong.”
However, there is new hope in the Chelsea camp, with Tuchel admitting that he could have both Kovacic and Kante back for the match as he is prepared to take a risk on the pair.
When asked about Kante, he said: “He is also trying. He tried yesterday in team training and trained more or less everything. Hopefully without a reaction. Was a reduced training session because of quite a long travel and fatigue of travelling. Was not a high intensity training session. We will try today with him. He is keen to make it. Hopefully he makes it to training 100% so we can plan with him tomorrow, would be good for us.”
He confirmed that Kovacic could feature before admitting it is time to take a risk for Chelsea.
“It’s pretty surprising to be in a situation where we can try it but Mateo wants to try it. Medical department gave the green light to try it,” he said.
“It is the moment to take a risk, yeah.”