August 20, (THEWILL) – The preparations of the Stamford Bridge Blues for their first season derby against fellow Londoners Arsenal at the Emirates, where they will unleash the force of returnee striker Romelu Lukaku, have been upset by the announcement from their German manager Thomas Tuchel that Christian Pulisic has returned a positive COVID-19 test result.
It means that the United States Men’s international player will be absent at the Matchday two fixture of the 2021/2022 season on Sunday. Tuchel revealed this to reporters in pre-match comments: “Unfortunately, [he] had a positive test and needs to follow the protocols. He’s not been training and is not available for the game.”
THEWILL recalls that Pulisic played the first 82 minutes and registered his name on the scoresheet for the Blues’ in their EPL opener against Crystal Palace on Saturday, in the UEFA Champions League winners’ convincing 3-0 victory start to the season at Stamford Bridge.
Pulisic himself shared a statement on social media, where he confirmed that he had been fully vaccinated and was not dealing with any coronavirus symptoms so far. The story-post via his official Instagram account said, in all-caps:
“HI ALL, UNFORTUNATELY I TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 EARLIER THIS WEEK. THANKFULLY I’M FULLY VACCINATED AND I HAVE NO SYMPTOMS SO FAR. CAN’T WAIT TO GET BACK IN ACTION! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.”
The strong start the American has made to the new season for the Blues follows from a truly remarkable summer where, in June, he led the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) to the Nations League championship with a last gasp 114th-minute penalty kick to beat rival Mexico.
However, this COVID-19 infection comes less than two weeks before the U.S. kicks off their World Cup qualifying series with their schedule involving a September 2 clash against El Salvador to be followed by fixtures against Canada on September 5 and Honduras on September 8.
The absence of the UEFA Champions League winning Pulisic will be a setback for both club and country because of the diversity in the final third that the 22-year-old Pennsylvania native brings with his array of talents.
The U.S. national team will progress at they did in winning the Gold Cup earlier this month without Pulisic for the qualifiers just as Tuchel can craft a technical masterpiece to unravel the Arsenal side on Sunday without Pulisic and yet both sides will be monitoring his progress closely to get him back into the respective squads in good time.]
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
