Chelsea’s clean bill of health a talking point ahead of tough run

After attaining a vital three points against Crystal Palace over the weekend, attention turns to the Champions League—where Chelsea holds a two-goal advantage going into the quarterfinal second leg match against Porto—and the FA Cup semifinal against Manchester City. Speaking before the Crystal Palace match last Friday, Thomas Tuchel reported the full 22-man squad was fit and on the training pitch. With no new updates in Tuchel’s press conference early Monday, it appears the squad came through Saturday’s Premier League tie unscathed.

The German coach was quizzed on managing N’Golo Kante’s fitness after the dynamic mifdfielder was restricted to cameo appearances in the last two matches after returning from international duty for France with a hamstring injury. Although available, Tuchel stated that he will make a decision on Kante’s inclusion in the starting XI on Tuesday morning. Even though he found it difficult to imagine such an important tie without Kante, the gaffer went on to make it clear that the players health and long-term fitness is paramount—this is especially true when considering the Blues’ upcoming fixtures.

With the FA Cup semifinal on Saturday to follow Tuesday’s Champions League excursion—which will once again take place at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in Seville—to have a fully fit squad going into the end of season run-in could be a deciding factor as to whether Chelsea finishes with silverware. Furthermore, an injury-free squad will be detrimental in keeping up the intensity that is needed in every game.

When asked by Portuguese media about the Blues’ approach with a two away goals in the bank, Tuchel was quick to point out that another top performance will be needed in order to see out the game. Going into more detail, Tuchel made the point that his side will need to play its usual game. Chelsea has to focus on the things it does well in order to see off a Porto side that know it needs to score goals to have a chance of meeting with either Real Madrid or Liverpool in the UCL semis.

The importance of squad depth was further enforced by Ben Chilwell, who followed Tuchel at Monday’s presser. The English fullback has had stiff competition this season from Marco Alonso and stated that, with things to play for in three competitions, it was important that there is a full squad challenging for 11 starting shirts.

Rotation has been a common theme during Tuchel’s tenure in west London and the Porto match is expected to be no different. Kai Havertz and Christian Pulsic could be rested tomorrow after excellent individual performances in the Premier League against Palace, which could see returns to the starting line-up for the likes of Timo Werner or even Tammy Abraham, to name a few.

There will also be a lot of interest in whether or not Thiago Silva starts the massive clash. The Brazilian was unavailable for Saturday’s Premier League contest after his red card against West Bromwich Albion the previous weekend. Tuchel might look to the Brazilian’s experience to make sure Chelsea keeps its cool in a match that could get nervy if Porto were to pull a goal back early in the game. The Blues are not the only team going into the game with a victory after Porto registered a 2-0 away win at CD Tondela, making it five straight victories in the domestic league for the Portuguese club.

Who do you think will be vital to Chelsea’s winning effort on Tuesday? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!