Thomas
Tuchel has emphasised that Chelsea vs Manchester City is not him vs Pep
Guardiola as they 'don't play tennis or chess'.
Tuchel's Chelsea, currently sitting at the top of the Premier League and
three points ahead of last year's champions, host Guardiola's City at
Stamford Bridge on Saturday at 12.30pm.
Chelsea have enjoyed great success against City in recent meetings, winning
three straight: a 1-0 FA Cup semi-final win in April; a 2-1 league win in
early May; then a 1-0 Champions League final victory at the end of that
month.
Although Tuchel was praised for his tactics during those games, he has
steered clear of labelling Saturday's match a battle between the two
coaches, emphasising how the results could have gone either way.
"Not so long ago, there were a lot of voices who told me that I don't know
how to beat Pep," he said.
"Anyway, it's not between me and him.
"We don't play a match of tennis or a match of chess tomorrow, we play with
our teams, and the teams and clubs compete against each other on a very high
level."
Before Tuchel's three-game winning run against Guardiola, the pair faced
each other as managers five times in the Bundesliga, and Guardiola's teams
came out on top on four occasions.
The other result was a 0-0 draw between Tuchel's Borussia Dortmund and
Guardiola's Bayern Munich.
But Tuchel says his victories since joining Guardiola in England could have
easily gone the other way.
"If I look at it honestly at the last three games, I see three 50/50
matches," he said.
"I'm not only talking about the situation before the match but it was a
50/50 but during the matches - I felt like it could have been any outcome.
"When you have 50/50 matches, little details decide it. Small situations can
give you the advantage and you need a bit of luck.
"It felt like totally 50/50 even in the review [of them], and I expect
another tomorrow. We want to fight hard to be the guys who have the better
outcome.
"We did it several times with this team but like I said, we know what the
input was, we know how much we suffered in these matches and we will see
what happens tomorrow."
Mendy returns, Mount will miss out
Tuchel confirmed goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is fit and will start on Saturday
after missing the last two games with a hip injury sustained against Zenit
St Petersburg in the Champions League.
Christian Pulisic will miss the match and so will Mason Mount, after the
England forward played through a knock he picked up in the closing stages of
Chelsea's Carabao Cup win over Aston Villa on Wednesday.
"For Mount, it's too soon," Tuchel said. "He made a big step, huge progress,
but it's not enough to be ready for tomorrow.
"Mason is very disappointed. He didn't feel it during the match because it
happened in the second half and he played through it and finished the game.
"It's a very minor injury, but it's still a disappointment for him and us
because he's a player we count on."
top