lights, including the striker declaring
his unhappiness over the situation at
Stamford Bridge, were advertised on
Thursday.
“Physically I’m fine, even better than
before,” Lukaku said. “After two years in
Italy, where I worked so hard at Inter
with the fitness staff and nutritionist, I
feel better than ever.
“However, I’m not happy with the
situation at Chelsea, that is normal. I
think the head coach chose to play a
different system. I just have to not give
up, keep working and be professional. I
am not happy, but I’m a hard worker
and I mustn’t give up.”
Lukaku is represented by Roc
Nation, an American company, and
Federico Pastorello, an Italian agent
who was not involved in arranging the
interview and who was yesterday
trying to ease any tension with Chelsea.
Lukaku is said to have recorded the
interview shortly after making his
return from an ankle injury against
Manchester United, his former club, on
November 28. Lukaku thought he was
fit enough to play longer than the eight
minutes Tuchel gave him as a substi-
tute. He told Sky Italia that Inter “saved
my career” after he “ended up in a
tunnel” at United.
Tuchel was left puzzled by Lukaku’s
reference to a change in approach:
“What I read is that he said we changed
a system. If you put a bit of work in, in
our systems, you will find not a lot of
system changes, if you find any.”
Under Antonio Conte, then the head
coach of Inter, Lukaku had his best
success playing as part of a two-man
attack alongside Lautaro Martínez,
whereas at Chelsea he is operating as a
lone striker with two No 10s behind
him.
Tuchel defended his use of Lukaku,
who was eased back into the team
throughout December after returning
from an ankle injury. Two weeks ago,
before Lukaku tested positive for
Covid and had to isolate, Tuchel said
that the striker was still readjusting
to English football after two years in
Serie A.
Asked how to get the best out of
Lukaku, Tuchel said: “Training, play-
ing, training, sleeping, eating good,
training, playing, sleeping, eat good,
drink a lot of water, sleep, train and
don’t give interviews.” He added: “Thedressing room is not necessary to be
always in harmony. It is not necessary
to be successful. We don’t have to love
each other, hug each other every single
day. Sometimes it’s good to be on the
edge, to be a bit in disharmony when it’s
between certain boundaries.”
Tuchel has been managing an injury
crisis at Chelsea, with Reece James
expected to be out for at least six weeks
with a hamstring problem and fellow
full back Ben Chilwell having under-
gone season-ending surgery on a
damaged knee ligament.
Liverpool’s problems are more short
term, with Klopp stating that three new
Covid cases among his players had
been recorded via lateral flow tests, and
the club were awaiting the results of
more accurate PCR tests. “I’m not [able
to reveal the names] because we still
have to make the whole processes,
getting a proper PCR, but you will see
on the teamsheet,” he said. “It will be
pretty clear then who is affected or
infected.”
Asked whether the situation could
force Liverpool to seek a postpone-
ment, Klopp replied: “Not yet, but we
don’t know.Best records v Chelsea since Klopp
took over in October 2015G W D L GF GA Pts
Liverpool 13 6 5 2 21 13 23
Man City 12 7 0 5 21 13 21
Man Utd 13 4 7 2 15 11 19
West Ham 13 5 3 5 15 18 18
Arsenal 12 4 3 5 1716 15Klopp’s a specialist
against ChelseaChelsea than any of his players
Game City’s main
title rivals know
they dare not lose
the times | Saturday January 1 2022 1GS 3
Premier League Sport
Paul
Joyce
Northern Football
CorrespondentJürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel will
not have to wait long before discovering
just what the new year has in store.
On the back of dispiriting midweek
results, defeat for either Liverpool or
Chelsea tomorrow will lead to a hasty
reappraisal of priorities for the coming
months. Alternatively, for the victors
there will be an immediate shot in the
arm and a chance to show that they can
prevent a relentless Manchester City
from disappearing over the horizon.
Three suspected Covid-19 cases for
Liverpool yesterday will have done
little to improve the mood of Klopp
after Tuesday’s damaging loss away to
Leicester City, though he is not some-
one who mopes for too long.
Indeed, he even spied a silver lining
in the cluttered calendar that so often
stokes only his frustration.
“Everybody was really suffering
[after Leicester],” the Liverpool manag-
er said. “It’s not as if anybody on the
plane home wanted loud music playing
or anything like that.
“We were really hit by it. We didn’t
expect it, but that is how it is. We have
to go through it, but now the good thing
about the English football schedule is
that you have to play all the time so you
have the chance pretty quickly to show
a reaction.
“I don’t see any mental reason —
physical reasons, I don’t know — why
we should not strike back from that
performance.
“It’s not mentally draining [chasing
City]. We want to have that competi-
tion. City are there to beat, but to do
that you have to be perfect. If you are
not perfect yourself, you have to hope
City are not perfect and that’s pretty
much like a passive role, which I don’t
like much.
“What they have done is absolutely
deserved. But let’s just play on and, at
the end of the season, one team will be
champion. There will be a decisive
moment in April and you have to be
close enough.”
Stamford Bridge was the venue for
Klopp’s first significant triumph in
the Premier League, a 3-1 victory in
October 2015, and he has continued to
enjoy success at the ground. There has
been only one defeat in six league visits
and Liverpool can become the first
team since Blackburn Rovers [from
1993-94 to 1995-96] to win three
successive league games
there.
It will be the last ap-
pearance for Mohamed
Salah, Sadio Mané and
Naby Keïta before their
Africa Cup of Nations
commitments, although
the absence of Thiago
Alcântara against Chelsea
represents a more immedi-
ate blow.All the points Liverpool have
dropped this season have come in
matches in which the Spaniard has not
started and the 30-year-old now has a
hip problem after previously testing
positive for Covid.
Alcântara has missed 15 of 29 match-
es this term, having been injured for 21
of 51 games last season after making his
debut for the club in this fixture, and
Klopp will be mindful of finding the
right balance in midfield.
It is an area the hosts can look to
exploit, depending upon their state of
mind.
Chelsea’s draw at Anfield in August,
when they played the entirety of the
second half with ten men after Reece
James’s sending-off shortly before the
break, was supposed to highlight the
resilience of potential champions.
Instead, they have become increas-
ingly careless. They have lost only once
since September, but draws in four of
their past five home matches in theTIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLANDleague have punctured the optimism
that had been building around the
Champions League winners.
Three of those draws — against
Burnley, Everton and Brighton & Hove
Albion — were all games in which they
led and should have seen out, regard-
less of Tuchel’s irritation about the
impact of Covid and injuries on his
depleted squad.
The German’s demeanour was not
improved yesterday by the television
interview in which Romelu Lukaku
voiced his unhappiness with life in west
London. Tuchel conceded that the
competitor in him needed to rouse
itself. “I will be in this mode when
match day comes,” the head coach said.
Tuchel knows that a win is impera-
tive, but offered an insight into his state
of mind when suggesting he was unsure
whether a victory would bring a
sustained upturn in fortune.
“So now things feel harder. Things
feel more difficult. It feels more compli-
cated,” he added. “One win
against Liverpool is always
possible and always super-
hard.
“We will try for it but
it’s not a situation where
you go, ‘OK, if we win
this then things will go
[well again].’
“The situation around
it, why we are in this diffi-
cult place, will not change
even if we win games.”Chelsea v
LiverpoolSky Sports Main Event.
Tomorrow, from 4pm
(kick-off 4.30pm).
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