Mateo Kovacic has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss Chelsea ‘s Champions League travel to to Zenit on Wednesday. Speaking at his pre-match news conference ahead of the game in St Petersburg, lead coach Thomas Tuchel described the news as a “ huge reverse ” for Chelsea .
Croatia midfielder Kovacic had returned to Chelsea training on Monday after hamstring trouble, entirely to return a convinced coronavirus test on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old had been out of action since late October and Blues boss Tuchel had hoped to ease him back in this workweek. N’Golo Kante remains sidelined with a knee issue, while Jorginho has been forced to play through the pain of a rear fuss and will besides now miss Wednesday nox ‘s game. “ We have bad news because Mateo was in training yesterday and with a large smile and it was a saturated pleasure to have him back, ” said Tuchel .
“ But he tested positive nowadays, for coronavirus, so he ‘s quarantining for a few days. So it ‘s a huge reverse for him personally and for all of us. ” Asked if the revival of coronavirus has caused extra concerns at Chelsea by and large, Tuchel added : “ Yes, I was aware that this can happen, me personally. “ I ‘m not happy not only as a coach but besides as a person. But this is the reality at the here and now, we have to face it to be cook to adapt and to do the best thing possible to avoid transmission. ”

Tuchel has built ‘a well-oiled machine’

Zenit emboss Sergei Semak has heaped praise on Thomas Tuchel ‘s “ well-oiled ” Chelsea system. Chelsea play Zenit in St Petersburg on Wednesday, where the Blues can seal top spot in Champions League Group H. If the Blues peer or better Juventus ‘ leave against Malmo they will secure first place and a potentially more favorable last-16 draw. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video musician
Premier League Saturday Round-up


A round-up of Saturday ‘s games from the Premier League as Manchester City travelled to Watford, West Ham hosted Chelsea and Wolves faced Liverpool
Chelsea edged by Zenit 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in September, but Semak knows the timbre of craft that director Tuchel has put into refining his tactical set-up. “ You ‘re talking about individual players but I would like to point out the importance of the system in general, they are like a german machine, well-oiled, ” said Semak. “ Every person on the pitch knows what to do and how to do it. “ so I would like to refrain from talking about individual qualities, and concentrate more on Chelsea as a team. ”

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Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel (PA)


Thomas Tuchel says Chelsea have made excessively many ‘big mistakes ‘ in holocene games, following their 3-2 loss to West Ham
Thomas Tuchel was left to rue a catalog of “ big mistakes ” after Chelsea slumped to their second base Premier League kill of the season at West Ham. The Premier League leaders travelled across the das kapital knowing victory at the London Stadium would move them four points clear of title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool before they even had the casual to kick a ball this weekend. But Chelsea paid the price for an error-strewn performance as goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was at fault for two of West Ham ‘s three goals, including Arthur Masuaku ‘s capricious winner. “ I did n’t see our operation dip against Manchester United or today, it was adequate to win the plot, ” Tuchel said. “ We gave easy goals away, this is unusual – big mistakes that lead to boastful chances and easy goals. We ‘ve done this against United, Watford, and today. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video recording musician
Edouard Mendy, Chelsea


Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel says goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is going through a ‘rough menstruation ‘ and suffering from a passing of confidence
“ We are not good enough in the details at the moment. This is a crippled about details, I can alone repeat myself. Without doing boastful mistakes, there ‘s a large chance we win this game. “ The [ deed ] slipstream is not interest at the moment, what is interesting is the adjacent 90 minutes. We have to have the focus right, the attitude right field, and to take care of the details because we are not good enough with the details at the consequence. “ If you want to protect yourself against counter-attacks, it is impossible to do these kind of mistakes. We have done these three times in a rowing ; this is simply besides much. ” Follow every Chelsea game in the Premier League this temper with our survive blogs on the Sky Sports web site and app, and watch match highlights for free concisely after full-time.

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