Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Andreas Christensen will miss Chelsea’s clash with Manchester City on Saturday after testing positive for Covid-19.
The Blues sit second in the Premier League table but are already ten points behind runaway leaders City, so the importance of a good result at the weekend is obvious.
Unfortunately, Chelsea will have to tackle the game without Christensen, who is now the latest player to test positive for Covid-19 at Stamford Bridge.
When asked for his team news ahead of the clash, Tuchel said: “Trevoh [Chalobah] will be out, Ben Chilwell will be out, Reece James out. That’s the injuries.
“We have one positive Covid test with Andreas Christensen, so he’s out for the game.”
With both Christensen and Chalobah absent, Tuchel could opt to turn to the 4-4-2 formation that served him well in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham, or he could bring Malang Sarr in for just his second Premier League appearance of the season.
It’s not ideal for such a big game, and Tuchel confessed that his side may well be out of the title race if they fall to City on Saturday.
“Maybe,” Tuchel admitted when asked if defeat would end his hopes. “The biggest difference so far this season is that they dealt better with injuries and the Covid situation.
“Maybe it’s unlucky or maybe they do it better. They’ve had less injuries to key players and less weeks where they’ve missed them. They did not suffer from Covid as we did over many weeks. This is the huge difference.
“We had some draws in the season that were unnecessary. If you have your full squad, you create a certain atmosphere that pushes everybody to the edge, and you need to be at the edge at the very highest level if you want to compete with Man City. They are the benchmark. They are the best team in England right now. This is something we have to admit.
“Let’s play the game. I’m always up for a good fight, but I’m also realistic. If you look back at the last few games, when we have our full squad, when we feel good, we are always up for a good fight with Man City and we will always dare to push them to the limit and ask them questions they don’t like to answer.”