Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel admits it was a difficult decision not to allow Christian Pulisic start for the Blues in their 2 – 0 win over Newcastle on Monday.
The USMNT player has started just one game since the German arrived the club: a 1 – 0 win over Barnsley in the FA Cup. But Tuchel seems to have faith in the winger despite his recent run on the bench.
Tuchel, who has a relationship with Pulisic dating back to the pair’s time at Borussia Dortmund, as allayed worries over the player’s lack of game time
“Today, the first change was already made in the first half from injury and Christian was a very tight decision if he starts again after the cup game, or if he comes on from the bench,” Tuchel said.
“We decided for another XI to start. Unfortunately, we only had three changes which makes it very difficult to give time to the players, to let everybody play, and to have an impact with the changes of fresh legs. That makes it difficult and the third change we didn’t want to use too early.
“During the match, we did what we normally do which is to only change to win the match. He deserves to start, or to come in but I could only use three guys. I hope he keeps on going and he will make an important impact for us in the future.”
Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Tammy Abraham started in attack for Chelsea, with Abraham forced out with an injury to be replaced with Olivier Giroud.
Meanwhile, Giroud and Werner scored for Chelsea with the latter ending his goal drought with his finish after 14 games.
