Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel isn't asking for any apologies from the Chelsea hierarchy - but he is glad to no longer be fronting up the Super League project for the club.
The Blues boss admitted to being distracted by the talk of Chelsea joining the ESL ahead of their 0-0 draw with Brighton on Tuesday night, before the club ultimately left the lucrative proposed competition.
Dropping those points at home in midweek has added pressure ahead of the away trip to West Ham, which pits two contenders for the top four against each other, and Tuchel signed off with some final thoughts on the Super League.
What he said?
"Yeah, yeah [I was distracted last time]," Tuchel said ahead of the trip to London Stadium. "But it's the owner's club, it's not my club. I'm part of the club, but it's the owner and the club's decision, and now they change that decision.
"There's no need to apologise to me directly, my job is to adapt to the circumstances. Were we distracted, yeah clearly. Me personally, I arrived in a state of mind on Tuesday at the stadium that was clearly not the mindset that I normally arrive in, for a match, but that's already in the past, and like I said, I don't think they need to apologise to me."
Next Match
Team news against West Ham
Chelsea's only injured player is Mateo Kovacic, who has a hamstring problem and is targeting a return next week against Fulham.
Edouard Mendy will return in goal despite Kepa Arrizabalaga having played and got clean sheets in the last two matches.
Tuchel said: "Kovacic is still out but everyone else is available. I think we can hope for Fulham [for Kovacic's return], but don’t take it as medical advice. Maybe the physios and doctors will kill me for that. I think Madrid could be very close, but obviously, he has not trained with the team.
"The good news is that we are totally focused on the game with no other subjects around. Mendy is in goal. The change was made for Kepa for the cup game. Even before the cup game, the goalkeeper coach and I decided that Kepa would stay in for one more game after City as a reward to keep the rhythm of playing every three days.
"It should be like a real reward and not just reward him for the competition, because of how he is playing and in the dressing room he is simply outstanding in terms of quality and personality, and I’m very happy that he could show it on the pitch again.
"He had two clean sheets in two difficult matches for us. So it is a very good feeling to know we can rely on two goalkeepers and they can produce clean sheets. They earn our trust in the moment and the situation, in general, has not changed – Edouard will be in goal tomorrow."
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