Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed he was forced to call upon Romelu Lukaku after injuries struck again in their defeat against West Ham United.
The Belgian striker has been recovering from an ankle injury suffered in October, used as a second-half substitute in Chelsea’s last two matches against Man United and the win over Watford.
Tuchel has been wary of overloading his players heading into the busy festive period with Chilwell, N’Golo Kante & Kovacic among those already sidelined, with Havertz & Marcos Alonso also coming off with knocks in the 3-2 defeat to the Hammers.
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And the German coach revealed post-match he was very reluctant to call upon Lukaku after his recent layoff, saying the decision to bring him on wasn’t a tactical one.
Tuchel told beIN SPORTS: ‘No, we did not try to find another dimension. ‘We had to [make the] change because we have another injured player [Kai Havertz].’
Tuchel added: ‘He cannot start the match now because he is not match ready.
When asked what he thought of the player’s display, the Chelsea manager said: ‘It’s not about talking about individual players and not about Romelu now.’
Lukaku has scored four goals in his 14 matches since returning to Stamford Bridge, with his last goal coming against Zenit St Petersburg in September.
