Chelsea team news: Tuchel confirms double injury boost but key man could miss Villa

Chelsea need a win to guarantee a top four place when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park on the final day of the Premier League season.

Ahead of Sunday’s game, Blues boss Thomas Tuchel held his pre-match press conference today and he provided a team news and injury update which included the latest on the fitness of Andreas Christensen, Kai Havertz and N’Golo Kante.

Let’s start with the good news and Tuchel was pleased to confirm that Christensen is fit and will travel to Villa Park this weekend. The centre-back has been missing recently due to a thigh injury but has returned to full training this week and is in contention to face Villa.

The Chelsea coach also had a positive update on Havertz as the attacker has been given the all-clear to resume full training on Saturday. Havertz missed the win over Leicester City on Tuesday night due to a muscle issue but has made a swift recovery and could now feature on Sunday.

However, it remains to be seen whether Kante will be available for selection this weekend after being forced off with a hamstring issue during the 2-1 victory over Leicester last time out.

Kante doubt

The Frenchman is set to miss the trip to Villa this weekend but Tuchel hopes Kante will be able to resume training on Monday at the latest and be available for the upcoming Champions League final.

Tuchel told Chelseafc.com:

‘Andreas Christensen will be in the squad. He did full training today and also yesterday without any problems so he will be back.

‘Kai Havertz did a test today and will be in team training tomorrow.

‘With N’Golo, it’s going to be very close but still some hopes that he maybe joins team training tomorrow. If not, then he will join on Monday.’

We’ll have to wait and see whether Tuchel decides to risk Christensen or Havertz from the start on Sunday. Obviously Chelsea need a positive result against Villa to secure a top four finish but they also have the small matter of a Champions League final to worry about.

The last thing Tuchel will want is for either player to aggravate their injury this weekend and be ruled out of the showdown with Manchester City so I’d be surprised if we see Christensen or Havertz starting against Villa.

Chelsea head into the final weekend of Premier League action sitting one point ahead of Liverpool and Leicester in third place, so they need a win at Villa to guarantee third spot or they’ll be relying on their rivals to drop points.