Thomas Tuchel handed Mateo Kovacic blow after Chelsea suffer knee injury setback

Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic has received an injury setback after Thomas Tuchel confirmed he would spend some time on the sidelines with a knee problem. 

Kovacic featured in Chelsea’s final game of pre-season against Udinese last month but wasn’t included in the squad which beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park last weekend.

The 28-year-old’s absence remained unclear and whether he would be available to face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon was down to Tuchel and an update being provided to clear up his absence. 

But Chelsea have received a setback in his return to the side, with the Croatian struggling with a knee injury. 

Thomas Tuchel confirmed the Chelsea team news for the London derby and revealed the Blues are looking after Kovacic to ensure he isn’t rushed back and a re-injury occurs.

“It’s the same for Kova, who is injured,” Tuchel told reporters at Cobham on Friday afternoon on who is available for Sunday’s derby.

“Has issues with his knee, always a little bit of a reaction. We decided to take a step back and increase treatment time to reduce the stress that comes from training to have a normal reaction before we start again.”

Kovacic’s absence will leave Tuchel with Jorginho and N’Golo Kante as the likely midfield starters against Spurs, just like they did at Everton, with Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek the other obvious alternatives. 

Chelsea will also be without Marcos Alonso against Spurs, He is unlikely to play for the club again as he finalises a transfer to Barcelona this summer. 

Tuchel added: “He (Marcos Alonso) is not in training at the moment and tries to finalise his transfer so he will not be available for (Sunday’s) game.”

The fitness of the Chelsea squad will be tested this weekend as they try to cope with the heatwave which has affected preparations at Cobham this week, and will play a factor in proceedings on Sunday in west London.

Tuchel believes it will offer his team a test of their ability to fight through the pain barrier as they eye London derby bragging rights over Antonio Conte’s side. 

He concluded on Friday afternoon: “This is quite demanding. Was demanding today (in training). It’s a huge difference from yesterday to today in terms of the heat. It will increase until tomorrow. We adapted our training session times to early mornings. 

“In a stadium it can feel even worse. (Sunday) at 4:30pm it will be quite challenging.

"I don’t know if it is already agreed but hopefully there will be a pause for drinking. 

“We have some patterns implemented already to cool the body temperature down to improve the situation as much as possible but it will be draining.”