Chilwell underwent surgery on a knee injury earlier this week and is expected to sit out the rest of the season as he works on his rehabilitation, which Tuchel confirmed at his pre-match press conference.

Meanwhile fellow full-back James was forced off against Brighton with a hamstring injury and our German head coach revealed that he is still awaiting the scan results before determining how long the defender could be sidelined for, but it is expected that Sunday’s game will come too soon for him.

‘Chilly of course has had his surgery and he has our best wishes and all of our energy to come back healthy and as soon as possible,’ Tuchel stated at his pre-match media briefing.

‘Unfortunately it seems like the season is over for him.

‘With Reecey it’s a hamstring injury, a muscle injury, and as always with muscle injures, the examination [results] comes a little bit later. You cannot rush these things.

‘The images are better if you wait a little bit. So the images will come back to us later today I guess and only then will we know more about his status.

‘That’s the situation on the wing-backs at this moment.’