Tuchel tells Tammy to focus on fitness, not how he’ll fit in

THOMAS TUCHEL has told striker Tammy Abraham to stop worrying about his Chelsea selection battle and focus instead on finally beating his troublesome ankle injury.

Abraham is struggling to overcome the issue that has plagued him since the Blues’ 2-0 Premier League victory over Newcastle on February 15.

The 23-year-old has featured just once since first suffering the problem and missed Sunday’s 2-0 FA Cup quarterfinal win over Sheffield United after pulling up in training last week.

And Blues boss Tuchel has told the forward, who was left out of the England squad last week on fitness grounds, to forget about his place in the Chelsea pecking order until he’s fully recovered.

‘Of course, he needs to be fit, that’s correct,’ said Tuchel. ‘ Then to take it step by step, through good training performances and to fight his way back.

‘The way back is maybe for him to be a substitute and to be hungry and full of quality in training.

‘These are the next steps, but now is not the moment to worry about the first

XI, as he has been out for many games, unfortunately too many games.

‘It is absolutely not his fault and he is hungry to come back and he tries all the time. It was an accident in training because we thought he would be in the squad on Sunday. So nobody’s fault. Now is a kind of restart and we hope he can use the next two weeks to get fit again.’ Abraham (pictured) has struggled for games since Tuchel’s arrival in January. Timo Werner and Olivier Giroud have both featured centrally, while Kai Havertz has operated as a false nine. With Chelsea linked with a summer move for Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, Abraham’s position at the club has come under scrutiny. But Tuchel is simply determined to help the academy graduate back to full fitness before considering anything else.

‘He quit training on Friday after a five-minute warm-up so there was more or less no chance he could join the squad,’ said Tuchel.

‘It was the same injury, more or less, where the first injury was. So he is in pain and he had to quit the session with no chance he could join us on Sunday.’

It is absolutely not his fault and he is hungry to come back