Chelsea faced off with Juventus in the Champions League for the second time this season as Massimiliano Allegri brought his side to west London. The first meeting ended in a 1-0 win for the hosts in Turin, Federico Chiesa finding the net, and Thomas Tuchel will have known a win would likely be essential on Tuesday night if they hoped to top the group.
Thomas Tuchel said: “Nothing tactical, more personality and characteristic. We have the feeling it might suit Hakim a little bit better today and to have the option to have Mason from the bench and to have some impact from him. He comes from a tooth surgery. He wants to play all the time, we want to have him on the pitch all the time. Sometimes it’s nice to have these players from the bench and as I said, Hakim and Christian were a good mix at Leicester and we have the feeling that maybe the style of the game suits Hakim a little bit better.”
Romelu Lukaku also returned to the squad but it was deemed too soon for him to start, taking his place on the bench, while Havertz missed out through injury.
Thomas Tuchel said: “Positive for Romelu but bad news for Kai he had the chance to start but we had to take him off after 60 minutes in Leicester with some hamstring problems. It was too much risk of an injury, so he’s not with us and Romelu is available on the bench for the last minutes.”
