Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that star duo Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante have tested positive for Covid-19. The star duo missed the 2-0 win in the League Cup semi-final first leg tie against Tottenham Hotspurs on Wednesday.
Both Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante tested positive on Wednesday morning and have been isolating ever since. Speaking to Chelsea’s official website, Thomas Tuchel said:
“Yes, unfortunately Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante.
“It’s huge for us because they are two huge players. We had the last information today in the morning, so it is quite challenging, but we will push.
“The guys who are here have our trust and our belief.
“We will push things to the maximum. The situation hasn’t changed since some weeks ago, it’s not the moment to repeat it, from here we are looking for solutions.
“I have trust in the guys who play and hopefully we put in a strong performance.”
The European champions won the first leg of the League Cup Semi Final quite easily at the end. Malang Sarr stepped into the heart of the defense in place of the missing veteran defender Thiago Silva. While on-loan Spanish midfielder Saul speed in for the isolating N’Golo Kante.
Club record signing Romelu Lukaku also made a return to the starting line-up. This was the Belgium striker’s first appearance since being axed out of the squad by Thomas Tuchel for his comments in a controversial interview.
Taking in his post-match interview about Lukaku, Tuchel said:
“I am happy he is on the pitch today.
“We can listen to this interview 100 times and it will not get better, but we can shift our focus.
“We accept it happened, he has accepted it happened, and we have enough reasons to move on.
“Now we need to protect him and push him because he’s our player and we want him to, and he wants to be, a key player.”
Possible return dates for Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante?
With the duo only testing positive on Wednesday, they are likely to miss the FA Cup clash against Chesterfield at the weekend. As well as the League Cup second leg clash against Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next Wednesday.
While there may be a chance of the duo returning for the League Cup semi-final second leg tie. But that will be unrealistic as neither player is in a position to take part in more than one training session at most.
Follow us on Twitter for regular football updates.
