Thomas Tuchel has assured Christian Pulisic that he will have an impact at Chelsea after he was left on the bench for the 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Monday evening.
The United States international, who played under Tuchel at Dortmund, is yet to start any Premier League match since he replaced Frank Lampard as Chelsea manager last month.
Pulisic was given his first start in the win over Barnsley in the FA Cup fifth round. But he was back on the bench on Monday as goals from Olivier Giroud and Timo Werner were enough to seal a 2-0 win over Newcastle.
However, Tuchel is adamant that Pulisic will play an important role during their time together at Stamford Bridge.
‘Today, the first change was already made in the first half from injury and Christian was a very tight decision if he starts again after the cup game, or if he comes on from the bench,’ Tuchel said after Newcastle win.
“We decided for another XI to start and unfortunately, we only had three changes which makes it very difficult to give time to the players, to let everybody play, and to have an impact with the changes of fresh legs.
‘That makes it difficult because the third change we didn’t want to use too early.
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‘We did like what we always do during the match, we only think about how to win the match.
‘He deserves to start, or to come in but I could only use three guys. I hope he keeps on going and he will make an important impact for us in the future.’