Chelsea duo out of Arsenal game but could make final

Injured Chelsea duo Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen are unavailable to face Arsenal on Wednesday but both could be fit in time to feature against Leicester City in the FA Cup final on Saturday.

Midfielder Kovacic has missed almost a month with a hamstring injury, while centre-back Christensen had to come off with a hamstring problem of his own in the Premier League win over Manchester City on Saturday.


“Kova isn’t ready,” boss Thomas Tuchel said. “His personal race is on to try to make it to Wembley.”

But Tuchel said Christensen’s injury is “much better than first feared”.

“We hope that for one of the two Leicester games he can back,” Tuchel added. “It will be tough but we hope the latest he can come back will be against Aston Villa.”

Meanwhile, Tuchel said only players at risk of getting injured through being overworked will be rested against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea play the Gunners  less than 72 before facing the Foxes.

“We have an eye on the workload and the statistics we have, who is overloaded and from that we will decide who has a risk of injury,” Tuchel said.

“Everyone who isn’t a risk will be available for the game. It’s not the time to manage the game on Saturday as we are in the middle of a race. It’s not the time to judge games.”