Tuchel makes Arsenal clash decision, two players out for Arsenal clash, as Blues close to land Serie A defender
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has vowed and decided not to underrate Arsenal ahead of the London derby on Wednesday.
Chelsea play host to the Gunners at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, and Blues boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he’d play his best available squad for the game.
According to the Chelsea manager, he isn’t thinking about the FA Cup final against Leicester City just yet, as he maintains that the top four fight is a huge one that he can’t take for granted.
Tuchel told reporters: “We just have an eye on the players’ workload and on the statistics that we have, who is maybe overloaded on high speed and from that we will decide who is at risk of injury. Everyone who is not at risk of injury will be available for the game.
“It’s not the time to manage the game on Saturday now. Now is the time to manage the game on Wednesday. We’re in the middle of a race for the top four and cannot judge games.”
Tuchel provides injury update on Chelsea players
Thomas Tuchel has ruled injured duo Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen out of the game against Arsenal. The former has been sidelined for the past few weeks due to a hamstring injury and is still some time away from returning to training with the first team.
Speaking about Kovacic’s injury, the Chelsea boss said:
“He is not ready for tomorrow, we have to postpone it to Wembley. His personal race is on to make it to the squad for Wembley.”
Christensen, meanwhile, limped off after pulling his muscle against Manchester City.
“It was much better than we feared. We hope that he can come back in one of the two Leicester games. It will also be a tough one, but the season’s not finished for him, hopefully. We have realistic hopes that he can make his comeback, at the latest, against Aston Villa,” revealed Tuchel.
Chelsea interested in Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic
According to Corriere dello Sport, Chelsea are interested in signing Fiorentina centre-back Nikola Milenkovic at the end of the season.
The 23-year-old is set to be one of the hottest properties emerging from Italy in the transfer market, with both the Manchester clubs and Liverpool having expressed interest in the player.
He has mustered 35 appearances across all competitions for Fiorentina, displaying goalscoring instincts and solid defensive capabilities. Chelsea are interested in Milenkovic as they may lose Fikayo Tomori in the summer as the defender wishes to extend his stay at AC Milan.