AMERICAN forward Christian Pulisic will miss the Premier League fixture between Chelsea and Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier in the week.
Chelsea will however have their new record signing Romelu Lukaku available for the derby as the European champions seek their second straight win of the new season.
Hakim Ziyech and N’Golo Kante could also feature for the Blues after missing the Premier League opener against Crystal Palace.
“With Christian, it’s unfortunately very easy to explain,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said during his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“He had a positive test and needs to follow the protocols so he won’t be available for the game. Hakim and N’Golo were both in training today and they had no problems. “We need to have a more intense session tomorrow with them and the team before we decide but right now it seems positive that both can be in the squad for Sunday.”
Tuchel was optimistic about the chances of Lukaku taking on the Gunners, days after the Belgium striker returned to Chelsea from Inter Milan for £97.5m.
“We have one more training session to go but the week was a heavy load for him because he was in the group with the late starters from our guys so it was an overload week so far,” Tuchel explained.
“Today [Friday] was lower intensity and tomorrow we have important training for the match but we are hoping he will be on the pitch for Sunday and things look like it.”
