The Blues host the non-league side at Stamford Bridge later today and it is the first game since the centre-forward was restored to the team and played 90 minutes against Tottenham, following his omission altogether against Liverpool last weekend.‘Every game is a game for Romelu to start but we will take the decision in the morning - he is an option to start again,’ declared Tuchel ahead of Friday’s final training for the match.‘We need to see how the reaction was to the 90 minutes he played because it was very intense when we saw the data for him and the effort, which was very, very good. I will have a chat with him [Lukaku], a chat with the fitness guys and then we will decide.’

The everchanging Covid and injury numbers Tuchel has faced in the past few weeks has been a huge challenge and our head coach suggests the FA Cup may mean a chance for Academy players once again, as there has been in recent Carabao Cup games.‘It's complicated and if we have a cup game in our schedule right now it is a chance for youth players to be part of the squad, to get some minutes, but overall we want to be competitive,’ he adds.‘The main objective is not resting players, the main objective is to be competitive and have a chance to win. It will stay like this no matter how complicated the situation is, which is complicated enough. Over the last weeks it's getting very difficult to adapt at short notice.

‘It might sound maybe like an excuse, which it is not, we just try to explain where we are and where we come from and what we all demand of ourselves. On matchday we will always be there to prepare the team to win, we will demand the highest from ourselves to reach 100 per cent on this particular day.‘If we miss important players we have to find 100 per cent in a different style or in a different manner.’