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Daniel Childs

Tammy Abraham return, Pulisic resurgence: Chelsea players who could benefit from Tuchel sacking

In the aftermath of Frank Lampard's sacking, one of Thomas Tuchel's first jobs was to reengage and offer clean slates to players who had fallen out of favour before his arrival.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Jorginho and Marcos Alonso all benefited in the early months of Tuchel's Chelsea reign, gaining consistent minutes under the German.

Nearly two years later, whoever replaces Tuchel after he was dismissed on Wednesday morning will have the same task. As is customary and slightly cliche, several players who were out of favour may come to find themselves as key members of the next chapter.

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Chelsea still have a large squad even if a number of fringe players departed over the summer, with several players unsurprisingly unhappy about their lack of minutes so far.

Football.london understands Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino are the frontrunners in what is looking like a quick managerial recruitment process. Toddy Boehly is keen to get the next manager in place as soon as possible, with coach Anthony Barry currently in line to take proceedings at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

So with another reset at Stamford Bridge on the horizon, let's look at the players who are likely to benefit most from this change in a head coach.

Tammy Abraham return

Let's start with the wild one, but could be impacted most by this change come next summer. One of Tuchel's earlier, and most controversial decisions, was to discard Tammy Abraham, who had consistently scored goals under Frank Lampard.

Abraham left for Roma, continuing his development in Serie A with Jose Mourinho. When Chelsea sold Abraham for £35m, a reported £67m buyback was inserted in the deal to sell. With Tuchel in charge, chances of that ever being triggered looked extremely slim. Maybe not anymore.

Trevoh Chalobah

The breakthrough academy talent of last term, Chalobah thoroughly impressed in Tuchel's back-three, remaining undefeated in 90 minutes, helping to keep clean sheets against Liverpool in both domestic cup finals.

Tuesday night's omission from the starting lineup would have been a bitter pill to swallow given his bright display against Leicester recently. Instead, the older Azpilicueta started and Chelsea looked short of speed in defence.

Chalobah has a fight on his hands given the arrival of Wesley Fofana, but maybe under a new coach, he will be trusted a lot more when rotation is needed when it appeared Tuchel had fallen out of favour with him at the end of last season.

Christian Pulisic resurgence

The American winger clearly wanted to depart the club during the summer but did not get his wish as no viable offer arrived.

In spells under Lampard and Tuchel, Pulisic has shown he can be capable of scoring goals and providing an end product to a mostly profligate attack. Depending on the new formation and preference of Tuchel's successor, Pulisic could be deemed one player who can jump back into a starring role.

Hakim Ziyech probably falls into a similar category, wide attacking players who appeared to have a bigger role under Lampard before struggling to cement one under Tuchel.

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