Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is set to leave Romelu Lukaku out of his matchday squad following his explosive interview.
Lukaku has scored in successive Premier League games but looks set to miss the clash with Liverpool after claiming he was unhappy at Stamford Bridge.
In an interview which was conducted back in December, the Belgian made several revelations, including an admission he had differences of opinion with Tuchel.
"Physically I'm doing great. I'm just not very happy with the situation, but that's normal," Lukaku told Sky Sport Italia. "I think the boss has decided to play a different formation but I have to stick at it and get on with it professionally.
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"I'm not happy with the situation but it's my job and I mustn't give up."
The 28-year-old only returned to Stamford Bridge in the summer, becoming the club’s record signing in a deal worth £97.5million.
But he added that Chelsea were well down on his own personal list of potential clubs: "Last summer I didn't think about going to Chelsea until they really came with an offer. Simone Inzaghi [Inter manager] behaved very well with me."
Tuchel pulled no punches in his response to Lukaku’s comments, claiming they had created a noise they didn’t need.
“We don't like it, of course, because it brings noise that we don't need and is not helpful. But on the other side, we don't want to make more out of it than it actually is,” he explained in his pre-match press conference.
“You know very well how it is, it's very easy to take lines out of context, to shorten lines to make headlines, then realise later it's not so bad or what he meant.
“But let's be honest, we don't like it, because it's noise we don't need, we need a calm environment and focus and it does not help.”
And the German now looks set to hand down sanctions on his star striker, with the Athletic reporting he will not be involved against Liverpool on Sunday.
The decision is a major risk for Tuchel, who has already been coping with a number of absences through Covid-19 and injury.
Chelsea will definitely be without wing-backs Ben Chilwell and Reece James, with the former set to miss the rest of the season, while Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen and Thiago Silva are all doubts after returning to training.
