Tuchel explains Pulisic surprise new position for Chelsea

Christian Pulisic made a surprise change to a wing-back in Chelsea’s 2-1 friendly win over Arsenal on Sunday.

Thomas Tuchel feels now is the time to experiment at Chelsea before the new season begins, resulting in Christian Pulisic starting at wing-back.

The Blues boss previously played Pulisic in the position during their time together at Borussia Dortmund. As Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James were unavailable, Callum Hudson-Odoi was on the left flank, and Chelsea hadn’t acquired PSG new boy Achraf Hakimi, Tuchel turned to Pulisic to fill in at wing-back.

Pulisic did enough on the day to help Chelsea claim a 2-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium. Kai Havertz and Tammy Abraham scored the goals, while Granit Xhaka briefly equalized for Arsenal.

“He played there with me at Dortmund and we played many times like this with Callum [Hudson-Odoi],” said Tuchel as quoted by Football London.

“Marcos [Alonso] wasn’t able to play today, so we put Callum on the left side which I wanted to see for a long time. Callum might be more dangerous from this position coming inside, which he loves, and which he did today. So you know our situation.

“We have Azpi and Reece for this position [right wing-back] but Azpi only started two days ago and Reece hasn’t even started yet. So we need solutions because we start on the 11th against Villarreal and on the 14th is the season. We can’t try things then so now is the time to see.

“It was the possibility to give him some minutes and from here we go on.”

Pulisic commonly plays as a right or left winger, but he has adopted other roles in the past. Aside from wing-back, the American has played as an attacking midfielder and even a striker.

Although 30 of his 34 appearances in all competitions last season came from the left flank, so perhaps it’s time for change at Stamford Bridge?

Tuchel, meanwhile, also spoke on Kurt Zouma amid reports of a possible summer exit for the Chelsea defender.