Chelsea lost Lukaku and Werner. Why is this not a disaster for Tuchel and how will he cope?

Chelsea lost both of their strikers during the opening half of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Malmö. Both Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner are expected to miss some time, leaving the coaching staff around Thomas Tuchel to wonder who to replace them with.

It was one of the main questions before kick-off of the virtually certain Chelsea – Malmö clash. Will Romelu Lukaku come on at the tip of the Blues’ attacking line to get a proper goal-scoring run against a weaker opponent, or will he be given the night off?

Finally, he appeared in the starting line-up, right alongside Tim Werner. But before half-time, the decision to field both strikers backfired cruelly.

After less than twenty minutes, the Belgian giant was harshly attacked in the penalty area by Lasso Nielsen, whose tackle looked the most like something from a criminal database.

After all, the Danish full-back was punished with at least a yellow card and a penalty, which was converted by Jorginho. Lukaku, however, had to make a substitution. And only for about twenty minutes longer did the German forward stay on the pitch.

How long the important men of Chelsea’s offensive line will be out is uncertain, with Lukaku being talked about for three weeks after an X-ray. In any case, according to coach Tuchel, both players will need time to recover.

This is a tough hurdle for Werner’s compatriot. Add to that the fact that Christian Pulisic has been on the sick list for quite a long time, and in addition Tammy Abraham, Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud left in the summer.

And that’s not even mentioning Armando Broja, the 20-year-old Albania international and a very promising striker who was supposed to move up to the first team after graduating from Chelsea’s academy and start gaining valuable experience, but instead headed on loan to Southampton this summer, where he scored his first goal on his Premier League debut on Saturday.

In short, Tuchel reckoned that his two stud strikers would be enough for this season and that they wouldn’t both fall out of favour at the same time.

Let’s face it, the short-term absence of strikers is not an extreme disaster for the London team at the moment, for at least two reasons.

Firstly, the defenders are doing an incredible job up front in the current season, directly responsible for 16 of Chelsea’s 20 goals, and secondly, the team has 5 games in 15 days before the next national break, but all against much weaker opponents.

Still, it is understandably necessary to fill some of the most offensive positions in the line-up. A clue as to how Thomas Tuchel might proceed was given by Wednesday’s game against the Swedish opponents, in which Kai Havertz and Callum Hudson-Odoi came on as substitutes for Lukaku and Werner respectively.

Both of them also showed that they understand each other on the pitch, as their combination increased the score to 3:0.

“It is clear that we will have to find a solution without Tim and Romel. But I leave everything open, the line-up can be put together in many ways. The main thing for me is for the striker to show hunger and determination on the pitch and to push himself into the penalty area,” Tuchel outlined after the match the qualities a player must have to make it as a so-called number ten.

Alongside Havertz with Hudson-Odoi, the not-so-busy Hakim Ziyech or Mason Mount also come into consideration. In any case, the composition of Chelsea’s line-up in the coming matches will be very interesting and unusual.

For an extremely ambitious team, the absence of both strikers will be a real test of how it can cope in an unexpected situation and whether it can compete on all fronts. Can Tuchel’s squad pass it like the previous ones with ease and without hesitation?

Sources: The Athletic, Goal