Chelsea will be without a missing quartet of players for the visit of Burnley tomorrow after Marcos Alonso joined the injury list this week.
The Spaniard picked up a knock late on in our midweek victory in Malmo and has been unable to train pain-free since then. He came in early from today’s session, our final preparation before we welcome Sean Dyche’s men to Stamford Bridge, with Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Mateo Kovacic also absent.
‘There is no news for the match tomorrow for Romelu and Timo,’ updated Tuchel at his pre-match press conference. ‘Both of them are out and Mateo is still out as well.
‘Unfortunately, Marcos Alonso injured himself in the very last minute during the Malmo match. He tried now to come for training but the stress is too high on the ankle, it’s nothing big but too painful at the moment so he will not be in the squad tomorrow.’
Christian Pulisic will be available after making his first Chelsea appearance since the opening weekend of the season as a second-half substitute in midweek. Meanwhile, Tuchel offered some insight into Mason Mount’s illness, which has ruled him out of the past two matches.
‘It’s a tricky one,’ said the boss. ‘He was ill but the reason was his wisdom tooth and a bit of an infection. He was back in training yesterday and today but he has lost a bit of weight because he cannot eat properly so he is taking medication and let’s see.
‘He’s in the squad for tomorrow and can play some minutes but we will need to wait for the reaction because it seems like a proper treatment needs to be done.’
Mason has missed the past two games but could return against Burnley
Tuchel was unsure whether the midfielder would require treatment that may impact his involvement with England in the upcoming international break following his call-up yesterday…
‘I expect he will if everything feels okay but the tendency that I know right now is that we need a proper treatment of the wisdom tooth. It could be that he’s out or that he joins the England squad a bit later maybe.
‘We will always push and encourage him. We are always proud when he is selected and he is always proud as well so there are no tactics behind closed doors that we try to keep Mason here but we have responsibility for his health and there is something going on that we need to take care about.
‘This is what we did also with Andreas Christensen when he was suddenly out for the Southampton game in the Carabao Cup because the treatment needed to be done and that is the first priority.’
The boss finished with some thoughts on Callum Hudson-Odoi and the winger’s decision not to join up with England’s Under-21 squad once again…
‘I did not get involved into this discussion. It was between the federation and Callum and then it ended up with Petr Cech being involved as well so I was happy about that. I had no interest to get involved or know the exact reasons.
‘I can understand if people don’t understand it or if they don’t like it. Callum is aware when he takes a decision like this that not everybody will be happy but you should ask him about it.
‘He probably has good reasons why he thinks in this moment it’s better for him personally to stay here and fight for his place. It’s easy to judge from outside but we should hear both sides.
‘He is clearly on the right way. You can see it in the matches and how effective he is. I feel him very focused. He waited a long time for these chances and now they have arrived, the best reaction from him is to keep on going and show the consistency that we need from him.’
