Chelsea take on Porto in their Champions League quarter-final
second leg, hoping to finish the job. The Blues were comfortable winners in the
first leg, winning 2-0, largely keeping the Portuguese outfit at bay.
It has been a good week for Chelsea as we grabbed a convincing
win over Crystal Palace at the weekend. The team have travelled to Spain as
these two legs have been scheduled to be played at Sevilla’s home stadium.
Chelsea had a few names out due to injury but now they might
just have most of their squad back for selection (h/t Football.london).
The biggest return will be that of N’Golo Kante, who has had to
be content with substitute appearances in the first leg and against Palace.
Kante was injured during the international break and did not play a part in the
West Brom game, but came off the bench against Crystal Palace.
Tuchel confirmed Kante’s status ahead of the game.
“It’s difficult to imagine playing a game like
this without N’Golo, so I think it is important we do look at him today before
making a decision. We absolutely have to be careful with him.
I will take a look at him after training and
see how he is before deciding whether he should start or whether he can be used
from the bench again.”
Abraham has a persisting issue in his ankle
that has been there ever since Thomas Tuchel took over the club. The striker
has made the bench in the last two games but played no part. The manager was
still a bit concerned about him though.
“Honestly I’m a bit concerned, because it’s still the pain
from the tackle against Burnley. So we’re talking about a long time now where
he does not really feel 100 per cent free and comfortable; I can see it in
training. Even if he finishes training, I can see that it’s not 100 per cent
that he has trust or feels totally free.”
We can expect both players to feature at some point during tonight's second leg encounter against FC Porto in the Champions League Quarterfinal stage.
Ngolo Kante in
particular will be a sure name in the starting lineup that will be rolled out
tonight as Mateo Kovacic's replacement. The Croatian is unavailable due to
injury sustained in training.
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