Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he has no intention of risking N'Golo Kante against Brentford on Wednesday evening.
Needing to manage a depleted squad due to coronavirus, Tuchel went against medical advice to play Kante for 90 minutes during Sunday's Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
With the Frenchman having played his first game for almost a month after a knee injury, Tuchel has stated that it is "not possible" to force Kante to play again within three days.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Tuchel said: "What we did with N'Golo Kante for 90 minutes was close to being irresponsible. Will he be involved in the squad against Brentford? No. Simply no.
"Would it be possible if it was the last game of the season? Yes, but we cannot do this. I will not do it. We will now give him time to recover and prepare for the Aston Villa game, and this is the situation.
"To have a team with 13 or 14 players for one match. This is a problem, but not the big problem. We can do and we can fight, but from the match, we have Trevoh Chalobah injured, we have him in big doubts, we have N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic involved, which was taking huge, huge risks and now we are paying for this.
"They cannot simply start with three matches or five matches in two weeks, or three matches in one week. It is simply impossible. So the problem and situation will increase, and we cannot let players suffer because other players are not there. It is simply impossible."
Tuchel has confirmed that only Jorginho will return to the squad for the EFL Cup quarter-final tie.
Darren Plant
