Thomas
Tuchel says the presence of home supporters at Villa Park for the first time
in over a year on Sunday could leave Chelsea at a disadvantage in the race
for the top four.
The final round of Premier League fixtures this weekend sees Chelsea visit
Aston Villa knowing that a victory will secure their place in next season's
Champions League.
However, just as the Blues benefitted from having home supporters present
for Tuesday's crucial win against Leicester, Villa will be boosted by having
10,000 fans at the game for the first time since March 2020.
If third-placed Chelsea slip up in the Midlands, they could be leapfrogged
by Liverpool and Leicester, with both teams just one point behind and
concluding their seasons in front of supporters at their home stadiums.
Asked if the situation handed Liverpool and Leicester an advantage over his
side, Tuchel said: "In terms of fans, they clearly have. In terms of points,
I think they would like to change with us.
"They [Aston Villa supporters] will not be fans for us and they will have
the effect for their side. It's an advantage. It makes things absolutely
more difficult, no doubt about it.
"But it's so much nicer and such a different game to play with spectators.
We know it increases the challenge and increases the adversity, but we are
here to step up."
All of Sunday's Premier League fixtures kick-off at 4pm and, while Tuchel
conceded it is not ideal, he says he will be keeping one eye on events at
Anfield and the King Power Stadium during his side's game at Villa Park.
"For a long period of the game I want to be in a bubble," he said. "If in
the end we have results that have an influence to the amount of risk we
should take - because we are not leading or whatever - then we need to know.
"We need to be professional. I prefer not to know, but if it's necessary, we
need to know to adapt our risk management during the game. I think this is
quite normal."
Chelsea were handed a boost ahead of their trip to Villa by the return to
training of Andreas Christensen, who has not played since suffering an
injury during the win at Manchester City on May 8.
However, Tuchel said N'Golo Kante could miss the game with the hamstring
injury that forced him off against Leicester earlier this week, although he
is set to be fit for next week's Champions League final.
"Andreas Christensen will be in the squad," the head coach said. "He did
full training today and also yesterday without any problems, so he will be
back.
"Kai [Havertz] did a test today and will be tested in team training
tomorrow. With NG [N'Golo Kante] it's going to be very close but some hopes
that he tries team training tomorrow. If not then he will join on Monday."
top