Tuchel: Silva and Christensen can play together

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Thiago Silva and Andreas Christensen can play together despite having similar qualities, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has said.

Danish centre-back Christensen, 24, has excelled since replacing Silva in the middle of the back three after the Brazilian suffered a thigh injury during the 1-0 win over Tottenham on 4 February.


Before his enforced substitution against Spurs, Silva’s composure, quality in possession and ability to read the game had stood out, even when the team started to struggle.

The 36-year0old, who has started 17 Premier League games for the Blues since joining in the close season, remains sidelined having suffered a setback in training and will miss Saturday’s game against Leeds at Elland Road.

Christensen has played appeared in eight of the 11 matches since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as head coach, with just one goal conceded while he has been involved.

But Tuchel had no doubts the ball-playing duo can play alongside each other in different systems.

“Absolutely they can play together,”Tuchel said.

“Christensen can play on both sides in a back three, or they can play together when we chose a back four.

“In the back three, the position in the middle is best for Thiago. And for Andreas. But he can play on both sides too so no problem there.”