Thomas Tuchel has confirmed he has injury doubts over three players heading into Chelsea’s midweek fixture against Watford.
Those definitely out are Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic through injury while there are doubts over Reece James, Jorginho and Timo Werner.
Kante sustained a knee injury in the Champions League victory over Juventus and missed out for the 1-1 draw against Manchester United on Sunday.
Tuchel had previously said it would be “days” that Kante would miss and the head coach has now confirmed that the Frenchman is out for the Watford game.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference at Cobham, the Blues head coach said: “For sure out is Chilly, Kova and N'Golo.
"We have some doubts about players, more time and examinations for Reece James, Jorgi and Timo. They all trained today but there will be some last minute decisions.
"It's on the players to be strong in the games but to take recovery very seriously. We have to be very good in recovery and sleeping, taking the right food and supplements to help us recover.
"Our style is intense and needs to be to have a certain mentality and identity on the pitch. This is what we want. We are not scared to rotate, we just the whole squad.
Chelsea will be without Chilwell for the game, as expected, as he is set to miss at least six weeks with a partial ACL tear he picked up in the Juventus game.
Mateo Kovacic’s hamstring injury has kept him out far longer than anticipated and he too will be sidelined for the short trip to Vicarage Road in midweek.
Werner is only just back from a hamstring injury that kept him for five weeks. James meanwhile has been a mainstay of the Blues backline and his loss would be huge for Tuchel with Chilwell also ruled out.
