📣 Tuchel on Lukaku, Saul, Chelsea's growing injury list and West Ham | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel spoke to reporters on Friday ahead of Chelsea’s trip to face West Ham.

Here’s what he had to say.

On injuries

“Almost need a list. Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kanté, Ben Chilwell and Trevoh Chalobah all out tomorrow. Everyone else is available.”

On West Ham being in the top four

“They almost got there last season and have been fighting he whole season for these plays. They show a huge solidarity, always a huge joy to watch their games. They did not have too many changes, play as a team and do what they do very good. They deserve to be there, they play strong in Europe, it is a tough match and a tough team to play against but it is also tough to play against us.”

On Lukaku’s fitness

“I will not tell you. He is in training, he is eager to start, he wants to start. It is difficult for Romelu and all the other guys after injuries to hit top level. We should try always to reach it. Watford caused us a lot of problems, didn’t allow us many chances and it was a mental game to hang in there and be ready to be clinical. Tomorrow will be new questions.”

On Saul Niguez

“He’s still adapting, he had an early yellow card and was a bit shy to play all in with duels and for that we lacked a bit of physicality. I think that he could play in a wing-back role for us, he is very strong in arriving in the box. We sometimes do this in training which is we think he could maybe be a good fit.”

On Hakim Ziyech

“I like him. I can feel it that he feels better now, he was always very ambitious with the shoulder injury but I feel that he can get 100 per cent, he smiles, feels decisive, had a huge impact from the bench. He is in good form and a good state of mind.”

On having James and Jorginho back

“It is massive. Reece is the specialist on the side and Jorginho is the guy left from Jova, NG and him from the midfield three in a central role. We are happy that Jorgi is back in training and we can’t wait for NG and Kova to come back.”