December 22, (THEWILL) – Despite a recent spike of positive COVID-19 tests at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has stated that he will not “start the hunt” against players who have not been vaccinated.
With a depleted squad, the Blues were held to a goalless draw by Wolves on Sunday, falling six points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Figures show that 84 percent of top-flight players have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, according to fresh statistics revealed by the Premier League this week.
Tuchel refused to blame those who have not yet been vaccinated for the recent increase in cases across the Premier League.
“I don’t want to get involved in pointing fingers and starting the hunt for non-vaccinated people,” the German manager said.
“This is a choice to make. I can have an opinion but a player can also have an opinion. We cannot force people to get vaccinated and I will not change my opinion on that. I am vaccinated. I took the decision for me and that’s it. I am not the guy to comment, I am not the expert here.”
Chelsea will play Brentford in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday, and the Blues will be without seven first-team players owing to COVID-19 difficulties. Andreas Christensen and Trevoh Chalobah are both ruled out through injury, while N’Golo Kante was rushed back to face Wolves and will not play.
“I would like to play us right now,” Tuchel said. “We have to protect our players and their health. That is why we brought in the academy. It is no secret and we think about playing with them.”
“We are fighting for every competition and I don’t like judging the importance of the game, because you can never tell what that does to you. But we are forced to do it and it makes me sad because that is not what sport is about, or what we are about.”
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.
