Chelsea midfielder Christian Pulisic will be unavailable for his side’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa after picking up a slight ankle problem during the international break. The 22-year-old American star limped off the field during the 62nd minute of the United States 4-1 victory over Honduras. While he initially attempted to play through the pain, Pulisic had to be substituted for the remainder of the match.
Blues manager Thomas Tuchel revealed that Pulisic rejoined Chelsea this week, arriving at the training ground on crutches. Tuchel expects Pulisic to remain out of action for 10 days, meaning that the player is also likely to miss out on Chelsea’s opening Champions League group game against Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday.
In addition to Pulisic, the Blues are also to be without N’Golo Kante this weekend, due to the French midfielder picking up an ankle problem that saw him also miss out on his national team’s fixtures during this latest international break.
There was some temporary talk around the possibility of striker Romelu Lukaku also missing out on the Premier League clash with Aston Villa due to a thigh injury, but Tuchel has dismissed such claims.
“No, not at all. Maybe he had some problems, but he came back two days ago, yesterday he trained with us, today he trained fully, no problems at all.”
