Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has suggested to Football.London that Saul Niguez could start against Dean Smith’s Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel’s Chelsea will take on Premier League rivals Villa at Stamford Bridge in London in the Carabao Cup tomorrow night.
The Chelsea boss is likely to give chances to some of the fringe players, and one of them could be 26-year-old Spain international midfielder Saul.
Tuchel told Football.London: “Of course, we want to give Saul some minutes. First of all, the guys want to show and impress and keep on pushing.
“We need some players to have more competitive minutes and be a competitive team.
“We need them to have the opportunity to push some guys and to trust them also in a competitive cup match like tomorrow. Saul is one of them.”
Back in action against Aston Villa?
Saul joined Chelsea on loan from Atletico Madrid on summer transfer deadline day.
The 26-year-old made his debut for the London club against Villa in the Premier League earlier this month.
The match was at Stamford Bridge, and the Blues won 3-0.
However, it was a debut to forget for Saul, who was taken off at half time.
The Spaniard simply could not cope with the intensity of the match and was overpowered by the Villa midfielders.
The midfielder had a pass accuracy of 83.8%, won one header, took 44 touches, and made one clearance.
The Spaniard has not played since.
Saul will certainly be looking to make amends if he starts tomorrow, but Villa will know that they could have the psychological edge over him.
Now, of course, Villa manager Smith could make changes to his team as well for the Carabao Cup tie, but having got the better of Saul once already this month, he will know how to do it again.
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