Thomas Tuchel was still heavily involved in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup today, despite being absent through a positive Covid test.
It was announced just before kick-off that the German coach would miss the game due to isolating after contracting the virus, which could also rule him out of travelling to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup.
The Blues did just manage to get through the FA Cup fourth round without Tuchel, though it took an extra-time winner to do so.
Plymouth took the lead through Macaulay Gillesphey, who headed home inside the first 10 minutes to give the League One side a shock lead.
Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta responded in the first-half with a clever flick to equalise at the near-post. A breakthrough couldn’t be found in the second-half though, as the game headed to extra-time and potentially penalties.
Marcos Alonso slammed home in the first-half of extra-time from Kai Havertz's cross to put the European champions ahead.
The game still had to be negotiated late on as Malang Sarr gave away a penalty late on. Shot-stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga managed to continue his great form in saving penalties, diving to his left to deny an equaliser.
It means last season’s finalists will be in the hat for the fifth round yet again, though they have the Club World Cup to play in before that.
They could be without head coach Tuchel for those games, much like today, though he was still involved.
Assistant manager Arno Michels confirmed that the German coach was in constant communication during the game, saying: "There has been ongoing communication [with Thomas Tuchel]. We knows about our game, of course, and stayed in touch for the whole game.
"He was involved in the whole preparation of the game so everything was clear in what we wanted to do and we stayed the whole time in touch. All good.
"I did not talk right now to him but we will do later."
The Blues will be hoping that their preparation is not impacted too much, with Tuchel making a quick recovery and return to action.
Up next is the Club World Cup semi-final on February 9, with Crystal Palace their next Premier League game later in the month.
