Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi were ruled out of Chelsea’s home fixture against Everton after testing positive for Covid-19, Thomas Tuchel has confirmed.
Ben Chilwell, already an injury absentee, was the fourth positive test to emerge in the Chelsea squad while Kai Havertz was reported to be feeling “unwell” and is waiting further test results.
Chelsea’s Premier League match against Everton is going ahead as planned despite four further matches being postponed on Thursday night ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.
Everton’s match against Leicester was one of the matches to be called off due to Covid-19, bringing the total number of postponed games this week up to nine.
“We did some extra tests at 12 o’clock today to make sure who would arrive at lunch,” Tuchel said. “From there we had to pick the team. Would it be the same line-up? I don’t know. The situation started yesterday with the players feeling unwell and not training.
“We had to confirm the flow tests and wait for the PCR results. The results are the results and the situation is the situation. We still have a strong squad and one we want to push forward, and that should be able to compete. Like always, we focus on the guys who are there.”
Chelsea named eight players on their bench for tonight’s match, including two goalkeepers.
