Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Marcos Alonso was missing from Chelsea's sqaud against Watford due to injury as the Blues wrapped up their Premier League season at Stamford Bridge.
Ben Chilwell made his return to the squad, having made his way back to first team training earlier in the week having been out since November with an ACL injury he suffered against Juventus. The former Leicester star was one of three left backs fielded against the Hornets with Kenedy starting the match and providing Kai Havertz with an assist in the early stages before the Brazilian required a substitution in the second period and was replaced by Malang Sarr. Chilwell was able to feature in the dying moments however to fulfill his comeback.
There was some surprising in Alonso's absence after the Spaniard's goalscoring display against Leicester City on Thursday where he completed 90 minutes. The former Sunderland ace's future is uncertain at Stamford Bridge this summer, with the possibility he may have played his last game for the club. Tuchel revealed however that his charge had been playing through the pain.
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The German coach said: "Marcos Alonso, he had a back problem in our first match against West Ham where he needed to go out and then he missed some matches and had more or less the same in the last games, but he played with this pain through the match against Leicester but he felt the muscle contraction goes through to the hamstrings and it's why it made no sense to take the risk on him."
The Blues boss also provided some detail on Callum Hudson-Odoi's continued absence. The 21-year-old winger has not featured since starting against Luton Town in the FA Cup in the early stages of March. The academy product has been noted to have Achilles and back issues that has seen him struggle to make a return.
Tuchel explained: "It's a muscle injury more or less that affected the whole leg, both legs. There is a lack of force that he can simply bring and the tests showed he lacked mobility and the force to be on the pitch. That's why we miss him for so, so long."
