Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has ruled out Thiago Silva of Thursday’s FA Cup trip to Barnsley and set a potential return date for the defender.
The 36-year-old centre-back suffered a thigh injury during the 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday.
Fortunately for the Blues, Andreas Christensen has done quite well at the centre of the back three so far.
The Denmark international is likely going to keep his spot in the next couple of games as according to Tuchel, Silva will be out for a while.
“[Regarding] Thiago, we’re fighting every day, but he will, for sure, be out of the FA Cup [against Barnsley on Thursday],” he said in his post-match press conference (via Hayters TV).
“So it will take some time, several days. We’ve set the goal, maybe against Southampton (Saturday, 20 February) would be realistic, but it will be very ambitions.
“But we’ll do everything and Thiago, he will do everything to be ready as soon as possible
“With a muscle injury, you cannot take any risks.
“When it’s healed, it’s healed, you cannot just [playing through] the pain like with other injuries.”
About Christian Pulisic’s surprising absence, Tuchel said the winger had “some family issues to solve”.
“Family issues always come first, so we decided to give him a rest for this game,” he added.
Chronicle view
If as Tuchel said, Silva will be out until the Southampton game, then Christensen is likely going to start against Barnsley and Newcastle United (Monday, 15 February).
Tuchel might even decide to rest Silva against the Saints, considering Chelsea will have a very challenging run of games after that.
This includes the Champions League away trip to Atletico Madrid (Feb 23) and a home fixture against Manchester United (Feb 28).
On the other hand, without Silva, Tuchel would only have Kurt Zouma as a back up for the back three.
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