Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner will miss Chelsea’s next two games AT LEAST, confirms Thomas Tuchel… after both strikers picked up injuries in win over Malmo
- Romelu Lukaku & Timo Werner suffered injuries during Chelsea’s win vs Malmo
- Chelsea face Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon
- The Blues then entertain Southampton in the Carabao Cup last 16 on Tuesday
Thomas Tuchel has ruled Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner out of at least the next two games and refuses to accept an enforced break might be a blessing in disguise for the injured Chelsea strikers.
‘It’s never a good thing, I cannot see a positive thing from this,’ said Tuchel as his Premier League leaders prepared to take on rock-bottom and winless Norwich. ‘Both are out for Saturday and they will be out for the Southampton game and from there we will see.
‘I don’t think it makes any sense that we go into speculation about how long it’s going to be. The fact is you never know. Things can be shorter or longer than expected. One thing I can tell you for sure is that that they are both in treatment and both feeling positive. They are not too worried. Out of the next two games for sure and then we’ll see.’
Chelsea will be without Romelu Lukaku (left) for at least the next two matches due to injury
Lukaku damaged ligaments in his ankle during Chelsea’s Champions League win over Malmo
Fellow striker Timo Werner (right) followed Lukaku off after suffering a hamstring strain
Christian Pulisic also remains out with an ankle injury he picked up playing for the United States in September.
Against Norwich, Kai Havertz is expected to continue at centre forward where he featured as a substitute and scored in a 4-0 win against Malmo on Wednesday after Lukaku damaged ankle ligaments and Werner suffered a hamstring injury in the first half.
‘He is so talented and so dangerous,’ said Tuchel on Havertz, who has started only four Premier League games since his winning goal in the Champions League final.
‘He has so much potential that he needs to show it. He got the minutes he deserved, and there is only one way to make it to the team and that is performance.
‘There is no other way. There never was and never will be. Kai was not at his personal highest level. Other players were closer to it and we were winning so it was now necessary that he waited some matches.
Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that the pair will miss clashes with Norwich and Southampton
‘We felt that other guys were in better shape. He did what he needed to do and worked hard and showed some resilience and compassion, determination to score and be more decisive in training.
‘Then he got some minutes against Brentford and it was necessary that he played 70 minutes against Malmo, he scored, he was dangerous and here we go.’
Tuchel insists he does not consider Havertz as a false nine but as an alternative to Lukaku or Werner at centre forward.
‘You might call it a false nine but for me it is not much of a false nine,’ he said. ‘Kai is very, very strong in the last line and behind it, arriving in the box. It is a big strength for him. We want him to do what he did against Malmo.
‘This is what we expect of him tomorrow. If you have Romelu then you have the nine and a reference up front to create spaces and half spaces. OK, if we don’t have him, the game will be different but in the end we have the same power, the same number of people in the same spaces in the opponent’s box to finish our attacks. That does not change.’
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