Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has ruled out his first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy of the Aston Villa midweek clash for the Blues on Wednesday.
The Senegalese shot-stopper had missed Chelsea’s 3-0 win over city rivals Tottenham Hotspur last time around with an injury as Kepa provided cover for him between the sticks.
Speaking to reporters in his pre-match presser ahead of the upcoming clash against Dean Smith’s Midlanders in the third-round meeting of the Carabao Cup, Tuchel confirmed that Mendy was in line to miss the midweek game at Stamford Bridge.
“Mendy cannot play, he was not in training so far.
“We’ll try to do everything for Saturday, and to reintegrate him tomorrow to individual training and then hopefully Thursday into team training. But not yet.
“But it’s a matter of the amount of games, the load that we’ve had for the players. Yes we will have some changes, because we take the opportunity to give important minutes in important competitions to guys who are missing minutes at the moment.”
Tuchel’s remarks in the build-up to the weekend’s highly-billed league game against the defending champions Manchester City does suggest that Mendy faces a race against time to prove his fitness to the Chelsea boss.
The 29-year-old Mendy has been a real asset for Chelsea at the back while manning the goalposts since he joined the west Londoners from French outfit Rennes last summer.
