The boss spoke to the press via videolink, as is the custom in these times, and was asked plenty about coming up against Jose Mourinho and Tottenham.

He also addressed the recent horrific racist abuse suffered by Reece James, offering his support to the young right-back, and finished by giving an injury update ahead of the game…

‘We had two little issues today on the training pitch,’ reported Tuchel.

‘Kurt Zouma and Kai Havertz went off the pitch with little issues. They are checking now, doing images right now, and it’s questionable whether they are in the squad for tomorrow. Everybody else is available.’

Tuchel stressed James has his full support after the distressing recent online episode

‘The team spoke about it, and the club spoke with the team about it. I would say I have a close relationship with Reece and he got a lot of support, and he has for sure all my support.

‘We didn’t speak about this case, but you can be totally assured I am 1000 per cent on his side and at his side. I had the feeling it was a good distraction for him to be out on the pitch and to talk about football.’

Tuchel is looking forward to tomorrow’s game and facing Mourinho for the first time

‘I am very happy to compete with a strong team against his side. I am very happy to arrive with our quality, with our mentality and with the atmosphere we have right now. That’s the most important thing.

‘Tottenham are very competitive, and very strong. It will be a challenge. Is it a clash of cultures? I don’t know. Jose is a winner and I want to implement the same in my team. We are at the highest level to win games and we will try everything tomorrow to beat them in their stadium.’