Abraham’s omission from Chelsea squad ‘never personal’

Thomas Tuchel is standing by his decision to overlook Tammy Abraham.

The striker has been left out of the squad completely for some of Chelsea’s recent matches – and again failed to make the cut for Saturday’s FA Cup final against Leicester.

Abraham has found himself behind Timo Werner and Olivier Giroud in the pecking order, with boss Tuchel also opting to deploy Kai Havertz as a centre-forward.

It has inevitably fuelled speculation that Abraham is on his way out of Stamford Bridge.

“It’s just about the amount of people that I can nominate for a game,” Tuchel insisted.

“I decided to start with Timo Werner in the number nine role and we had Kai Havertz and Olivier Giroud on the bench, so we decided not to have three number nines on the bench. This is it – it’s never personal.”

And Tuchel suggested that other players could similarly be left out in the cold once Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen are fully fit.

The German explained: “When Kova and Andreas Christensen, maybe, come back I will need to figure out the squad and maybe eliminate two more players.

“I understand his (Abraham’s) frustration and it was not the first time. We have other guys with the same situation to face.”