The Blues winger failed to make Tuchel’s matchday squad for the Premier League match against Burnley.
Thomas Tuchel explained Hakim Ziyech’s omission was down to a need to rest the winger, who would’ve risked a possible injury had he played.
The €40m summer signing has been in-and-out of the Chelsea squad, having suffered a knee injury earlier in the season. However, he has enjoyed a decent start in London and was a regular under former manager Frank Lampard.
His last appearance came in the midweek 0-0 draw against Wolves at Stamford Bridge, which was Tuchel’s debut as the club’s new head coach.
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But the former Paris Saint-Germain coach has instead favored Tammy Abraham, Timo Werner and Mason Mount as his front three against Burnley.
“He [Ziyech] has been in a bit of overload since five weeks, so he has a bit of a risk of getting injured if he plays more than say 30 minutes,” Tuchel told BT Sport on Ziyech’s omission via Goal.
“For that, we decided to take a break now to go out of the risk zone.”
Cesar Azpilicueta has scored the only goal of the game so far to help Chelsea take a 1-0 lead over Burnley.