Chelsea handed Lukaku boost but could still be without four players

Ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Brentford, Thomas Tuchel offered some good and bad news for the club’s first game back from the international break.

Romelu Lukaku will make the trip to Brentford on Saturday, but Thomas Tuchel could still miss up to four Chelsea players.

The Blues boss has confirmed Christian Pulisic, as well as defenders Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva, are unavailable. Hakim Ziyech is also a doubt as a headache has caused him to miss training sessions.

Nonetheless, Lukaku’s availability is a boost. The striker withdrew from Belgium duty due to muscle fatigue and was a doubt for this weekend. However, he has returned to training, and now Tuchel has confirmed the good news.

Romelu Lukaku in #CFC training today at Cobham. Looks in good shape having missed Belgium’s last game in the Nations League. pic.twitter.com/0GlXj1G2cn

— Sam Inkersole (@Sam_InkersoleTM) October 14, 2021

“Romelu is fine and will be involved tomorrow,” he said during a pre-match conference on Friday.

Pulisic, meanwhile, continues to recover from an ankle problem, while Rudiger suffered a back injury with the German national team during the international break.

As for Silva, the Chelsea defender is also out as he played for Brazil in the early hours of Friday morning (European time) in the 4-1 win over Uruguay. Therefore, he doesn’t have enough time to prepare for Brentford.

Tuchel continued: “Thiago will be back in the afternoon, hopefully safe from this match in Brazil. We had our talk and tactical training, he missed all that. He played 90 minutes and had 12 hours of traveling, so that gives you the answer.

“Toni Rudiger is injured, came back injured from the national team. Christian Pulisic is still injured. We also have doubts with Hakim Ziyech, who has missed the last couple of sessions with a headache.”