On Wednesday, Chelsea will travel to Lille for the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie with the French champions.
The Blues already have a 2-0 lead after scoring goals from Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic in the first match at Stamford Bridge.
However, since the first match in London, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been faced with a slew of sanctions from the UK government, raising concerns over whether Chelsea’s journey to France may be disrupted.
Chelsea may have been facing difficulties off field but their on field performances have been fantastic.
Chelsea has won their last five Premier League games in a row, and their 1-0 victory over Newcastle on Sunday helped the team maintain third place in the rankings.
And Thomas Tuchel will be hoping that his team can continue to put their off-field issues aside in order to secure a spot in the competition’s quarter-finals.
Ahead of the tie, latest injury updates for some of the players including Thiago Silva, Azpilicueta, Reece James as well as Callum Hodson-Odoi have all come in.
Silva was knocked out a couple of times in last week’s 3-1 win over Norwich, but he finished the game. As a result, after missing out against the Magpies, there was considerable doubt over his fitness.
But Coach Tuchel has given update on the veteran defender: “With Silva, we’ll see. He should be ready”
Reece James returned to the starting lineup earlier this month in the 4-0 win over Burnley after a lengthy layoff.
However, he sustained another injury during the victory at Turf Moor and was forced to miss Sunday’s win against Newcastle, making him a doubt for the match against Lille.
Cezar Azpilicueta was during last week’s win at Norwich due to illness and the Blues captain was not included in the matchday squad for the match against Newcastle. Azpilicueta has recovered from his injury and is expected to start against Lille.
