Thomas Tuchel has been speaking to the media ahead of Chelsea’s huge Premier League clash with Manchester United this weekend.

Here is what he had to say.

“Kovacić is still out for the game on Sunday.

“N’Golo (Kanté) twisted his knee a little bit against Juventus and feels better but it seems he will be out for some days.

“We still have a little hope but it’s almost a miracle if he makes it.

“Ben (Chilwell) is out, he has a partial tear of his ACL, and the decision is to treat it conservatively.

“The next six weeks will tell the story if he makes it and be available or if he will need surgery.

“The possibility is he (Lukaku) starts is not very high because we can’t be sure what happens in the match and we have to find the balance to giving minutes and being absolutely competitive for 90 minutes.”

“There is never a good moment for big injuries or injuries in general.

“This personally is a very bad moment because he was so involved and full of confidence. He was so important in our victories.

“We are very sad but he at the moment is very positive because his body has reacted positively to the first treatments and the injury.”

“He helped me a lot because he was my coach and then one of the main figures to convince me to try coaching.

“He was a huge influence on all of us at this time because he showed us it’s not important to follow people to the toilet in games, people felt defenders followed the strikers in games.

“Before I get carried away and talk too much, he isn’t appointed yet. So let’s respect everybody.”

“I will always like to repeat it now because I see the potential and I think he knows his potential.

“Since he was an academy player, everyone was aware of his potential and now he has to show it to everyone. Everyone in the stadium must know how good and strong Ruben is. This is the next step.

“This is what he is doing because otherwise he would not play. It’s about performance and he deserves to play.

“He is in competition with Mateo, N’Golo, Jorginho, Saúl, he is in the toughest competition for minutes on the pitch.

“I am happy with Ruben, he was part of a fantastic performance [against Juventus] and this is what we expect of him.”

“We saw it very quickly in training that we have some very good kids here.

“What makes me maybe the happiest is how much they care about the shirt and the club and how much they want to make it here.

“This makes it special, not only for me as a coach but for the supporters.”

“I don’t know if it’s ever a good time to play against teams because that would mean we know something or predict something.

“We will not lose too many minutes thinking about this and put all our energy and focus into our team.

“We are up for the big challenges and we want to be out there playing at the highest level. We want to prove a point.

“We have just come from a hard match and now we are onto the next one. We will be challenged at the highest level again on Sunday.”

TodayNG