Tuchel confirms major injury ahead of Fa Cup final, Trevor called to deduct 6 points from Man Utd for disrespecting Chelsea, as Blues reach agreement for Dutch International
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that N’Golo Kante was not in the matchday squad against Arsenal last night due to an Achilles injury.
The Frenchman’s omission was a shock as he played the first 70 minutes against Manchester City last weekend but Tuchel claims that there was no possibility of him playing yesterday evening:
“N’Golo [missed the game] because of pain management. He has pain in his Achilles and he suffers from that. So there was no chance. We missed [Mateo] Kovacic and now we didn’t have N’Golo on the bench and that was a huge blow for us in terms of intensity and attitude.”
With just two days to go before the FA Cup final, it appears Kante is in a race against time to be ready for the showpiece event at Wembley.
As Tuchel also points out, Mateo Kovacic’s fitness is a major concern, and although the German did say last week that he was confident that the Croatian international would be back for the final, he rowed back on those comments ahead of the Gunners match.
It is clear that Tuchel was unhappy with both Jorginho and Billy Gilmour playing in the same midfield last night, and if Kante and Kovacic are not able to make the Leicester clash, he will have a dilemma on his hands.
Trevor called to deduct 6 points from Man Utd for disrespecting Chelsea
Former West Ham winger Trevor Sinclair has called for 6 points to be deducted from Manchester United after they made fielded a weakened side against Leicester City by making 10 changes to their starting XI.
According to Sinclair, United handed an advantage to Leicester City in the top four race after playing their B team.
“Without being disrespectful to the players that played tonight, they made ten changes, this is their ‘B’ team,” Sinclair told talkSPORT.
“I think that’s disrespectful and it takes away from the top four race.
“The teams that are going to suffer from Man United’s lack of due diligence, the ones who could miss out on the top four, are Chelsea possibly, Liverpool, West Ham and Tottenham.
“I think there needs to be a punishment for Man United. Three points isn’t enough because that doesn’t affect anything.
“I honestly feel the way they put out this team, the way they didn’t safeguard their stadium, I think a six-point deduction should be given to Manchester United.”
Chelsea have agreed pre-contract terms to sign Holland defender Aniek Nouwen from PSV Eindhoven on a three-year deal.
Nouwen has made over 100 appearances for PSV since making her professional debut in 2016 and has been capped 14 times by the Netherlands, and she has been on the radar of Chelsea for the last 12 months.
Now Chelsea have won the race to get a transfer deal done as Nouwen will will join Emma Hayes’ squad ahead of the 2021-22 season, and The 22-year-old says she jumped at the chance to sign for the Women’s Super League champions and is excited at the prospect of linking up with her new team-mates.
“There were other clubs who were interested, but I made my decision to join Chelsea pretty fast,” Nouwen said on the club website
“To play in the English league has always been a dream for me as it is the best competition and it provides the best opportunity for me to develop even more.
“I’m very honoured and proud to become a Blue and I can’t wait to be a part of this winning team. I want to win prizes and play in the big games.
“I’m looking forward to joining up with the team. It’s all going to be very new but I’m really excited.”
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Nouwen has been impressing over the past 12 months and it is very easy to see why she was signed up by the Blues so quickly, she is certainly a player that should help the club defensively next season.