Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel spoke at a press conference on the eve of his side’s home match against Leicester. Here are four key things we learned….
Havertz and Kovacic face fitness tests
“Kai tries today (Wednesday) in training. He did individual training yesterday but was not in team training, so still a big question mark.
“Kova had a big swollen ankle after the match and did not train yesterday, so not sure that he will be available.”
The cup final wasn’t the first time Christensen didn’t want to play
“Andreas came on the morning of the match to inform me that he’s not ready to play the match or to start the match or be on the bench.
“He had his reasons. They will stay private and confidential but it was not the first time. As you can see over the past weeks, we had some of the same situations which is why he did not play so regularly over the last weeks.
“We thought that we were in a good progression and a good development because he played very strong in the match before the final, against Leeds, but the conversation took place and we have to respect it and of course we respected it.”
Tuchel wants to assess Gallagher and Broja during pre-season
“First of all they will come back for sure because they are our players and when we give them on loan we do this for them but also for us to have better players, more experienced players back.
“They are our players and I want to have them in pre-season when we’ll decide what’s going on.
“It’s heavily linked to them, it’s heavily linked to how they integrate, what they do, what our ideas are for them, what they want to reach and it’s heavily linked to our sanctions and the situation around the club.
“It’s too early to predict the future for them in the role of the whole season but they will be back in pre-season for sure.”
Hudson-Odoi will return for pre-season early
“He is in individual training, progressing, but not in team training. He will come early in pre-season, like Chilwell, to start a programme to be back on July 2 with team training.”