THOMAS TUCHEL is sweating on the fitness of N’Golo Kante and Kai Havertz for their D-Day clash with Aston Villa.
Chelsea head into the clash at Villa Park knowing a win would guarantee their spot in next season’s Champions League.
A draw and wins for Leicester and Liverpool will see the Blues drop into the Europa and will cost them a huge £70million payday.
But Chelsea’s chances of victory may be hampered if their two key players fail late fitness tests.
Kante is struggling with a thigh injury picked up in the 2-1 victory over Leicester.
Havertz is also a doubt with a muscle issue and Tuchel admitted they could miss out although are likely to be fit for the Champions League final on May 29.
He said: “Kai did a test today and will be tested in training tomorrow.
“With N’Golo it’s going to be very close (for the Villa game).
“There are some hopes that he maybe joins in training tomorrow. If not, he will join on Monday.”
Tuchel did hand supporters an injury boost with Andreas Christensen recovering from a thigh issue.
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He added: “Andreas Christensen will be in the squad.
“He did full training today and also yesterday without any problems, so he will be back.”
Despite the Champions League final with Manchester City next Saturday, Tuchel will not risk playing an understrength team.
The German boss said: “We approach the game like the one against Leicester. It’s in our hands and we can decide things with a win so we are preparing to win this game.
“I will be absolutely happy to reach it [the Champions League] and that was the main target for all of us. Making the FA Cup final and the Champions League final has made it harder as we had so many games to play and it meant different levels of concentration and focus from all of us.
“We have a lot of respect for our opponent and we know how hard it is to play at Aston Villa against a strong team.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
