Why Tuchel started Lukaku against Arsenal

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed in a statement why he chose to start Belgian international Romelu Lukaku ahead of Kai Havertz during their game vs Arsenal.

Tuchel chose to start Lukaku alongside Timo Werner and Mason Mount at the forefront while Havertz was left on the bench.

Many had not expected the Blues manager to start Lukaku, who had not scored a Premier League goal for Chelsea since late December to start for the Blues against Arsenal.

Explaining his decision to bench Havertz, Tuchel told Sky Sports: “You were asking so much about him, so finally I put him in.

“We want to play with two strikers, and Kai has heavily overloaded himself in the last few matches.

“He’s tired, so it was the moment to go with Romelu. If you have a good experience or a good memory against an opponent, it can help. It wasn’t the main reason.

“The main reason is that he deserves to play first of all and we want to play with two strikers. Kai has lots of minutes in his legs, and he [Lukaku] had a good game against Arsenal in the first game.”