Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel will not risk playing N’Golo Kante against Brentford in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, insisting it was already “irresponsible” to play him for 90 minutes against Wolves.
The Blues squad has been hit by a series of positive Covid-19 tests and they were able to name just four outfield players on the bench at Molineux on Sunday.
Chelsea had a request to postpone the game rejected by the Premier League and, as a result, Tuchel was forced to rush players back from injury.
One of those was Kante, who started and played the full 90 minutes during the draw with Wolves despite having last played on November 23.
Chelsea are still short on numbers for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Brentford, calling up academy players to bolster their ranks, but Tuchel has confirmed he will not be risking Kante.
“How shall I put it? Maybe it is best to put it in an example,” said Tuchel. “What we did with N’Golo Kante was close to being irresponsible to let him play for 90 minutes against Wolverhampton.
“Will he be involved in the squad now against Brentford? No, simply no. Would it be possible if it was like the last game of the season? Yes, but we cannot do this and I will not do it.
“We will now give him time to recover and prepare him for the Aston Villa match [on Boxing Day].”
