France
international was withdrawn after 32 minutes during Chelsea’s 2-1 win over
Leicester on Tuesday, having complained of tightness in his hamstrings.
That led to
fears Kante, 30, wouldn’t be ready to face Manchester City in Porto on May 29,
but Tuchel has allayed concerns after saying his star will return to training
soon.
Chelsea travel
to Aston Villa in their final Premier League fixture of the season on Sunday,
and Tuchel told reporters: “With N’Golo Kante it’s going to be very close but
there are some hopes he joins team training tomorrow (Saturday).
“If not, he’ll
join on Monday.”
The Blues sit third in the
league and have all but secured their place in Europe’s first-tier tournament
next term, though defeat at Villa Park could still see the club finish fifth.
Liverpool (fourth) and
Leicester (fifth) each sit one point behind Chelsea ahead of the final
matchday, hosting respective opponents Crystal Palace and Tottenham in their
closing fixtures.
World Cup-winner Kante has made
47 appearances across all competitions so far this season, with only Mason
Mount (52) and Timo Werner (50) managing more.
Mateo Kovacic replaced the
Frenchman against former club Leicester and looks most likely to step into
Tuchel’s XI in the event Kante doesn’t recover in time.
The German coach has been open
in his admiration of the French favourite since moving to Stamford Bridge: “The
guy is a top guy.
“He is the guy you need to win
trophies and that’s why we’re are so happy he’s here and he’s at our club.
“I was dreaming about this
player and fighting for this player, dreaming about this player in any club I
was coaching so now he’s my player.
“He’s won every trophy except
for Champions League, hopefully he will do everything that we get this trophy
and for me he’s an example he’s an unbelievable input for any team in the
world.”
Chelsea drew 1-1 at home to
Villa when Frank Lampard was still at the helm in December, though Sunday’s
guests will hope for an improved result following January’s change in management.
The Blues will be buoyed by the
fact Villa can’t move from 11th in the league regardless of the result.
Dean Smith’s side ended a
stretch of three games without a win by beating Tottenham 2-1 on Wednesday,
hoping for another upset over London opposition to close their campaign.
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