Chelsea face Barnsley in the FA Cup 5th round in South Yorkshire, at Oakwell stadium tonight.
Thomas Tuchel confirmed in his pre-match conference of the possible changes that might occur within the starting eleven, taking into account this fixture being their third away game in a row. (chelseafc.com)
Speaking to the media, he said:
“There’s a high possibility that we will see a lot of changes. This is the third away game for us in a row, so we don’t want to lose awareness or attention to detail and I think this is a good chance for some changes.”
N’Golo Kante is one of Chelsea’s main men who has missed recent matches due to injury, but recently made a comeback against Tottenham. Tuchel has long been an admirer of the French midfield powerhouse and is excited to have him back playing for Chelsea.
“N’Golo will start tomorrow and I’m so happy to have him back again. We put him on the pitch against Tottenham and he helped everybody on the pitch, which is what he does.”
When asked about where he sees Hakim Ziyech fit into his team plans, he said:
“We will hopefully see the best of him against Barnsley. We count on him to do something different, no doubt about that. He has lots of quality and we count on him like everyone else, no doubt about that. Ziyech has certain qualities to decide matches and do the unexpected.
He had a good training week and now will have the chance to show the same quality and determination on pitch.”
Tuchel went on to provide an important and positive update on veteran Thiago Silva’s injury.
“Thiago is out for tomorrow for sure, although he feels better and better, which is good and he’s getting the right treatment. One thing we can be sure of with Thiago though is that he will be spending every minute available to him to speed up the process of healing. It is a muscle injury though so we cannot force it,” the manager said.
Chelsea are now on a morale-high after making a good start under Tuchel and will look to channel their attention to the much revered FA Cup. Barnsley have won both of their FA Cup meetings with Chelsea, winning 4-0 in the third round in 1989 and 1-0 in the 2008 quarter-final.
