Chelsea manager Tuchel keen to harness frustration of recent EPL defeat to Arsenal when they lock horns with Leicester City in final at Wembley tonight
An animated Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel during his team’s defeat to Arsenal in an EPL match on Wednesday. Pic/AFP
Thomas Tuchel said he would lead an angry Chelsea into Saturday’s FA Cup final after defeat by Arsenal dented their EPL Top-4 hopes. The Blues boss admitted preparations for the match against Leicester at Wembley would be made easier by his team’s frustrations following Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat.
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Missed opportunity
“We all feel that anger on ourselves on the missed opportunity and the performance that night against Arsenal,” he said on Friday. “So it’s a good thing, in that it’s easy to prepare. Now the challenge is to focus, focus only on this match, focus on us and play on the edge.”
But he added: “I will not get carried away with emotions tomorrow. I am fully focused on preparing my team better than we did two days ago.” The former PSG manager has steered Chelsea to both the FA Cup and Champions League finals. They are fourth in the EPL and still in a strong position to qualify for next season’s Champions League, but Wednesday’s defeat makes their task tougher, giving Liverpool fresh hope.
Kovacic, Kante fit
Tuchel welcomed the availability of midfielders Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante for the Wembley showpiece. Croatia star Kovacic has missed nine matches with a hamstring problem while Kante was kept out of the Arsenal match due to a painful Achilles issue. “The whole group is available, Kova is with us again,” said Tuchel. “It’s huge because Mateo has everything that we need in midfield. When we missed N’Golo and Mateo in the same match we lacked a lot of quality, energy and experience.”
Also Read: EPL: This is a wake-up call - Chelsea boss Tuchel after loss to Arsenal
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