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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has ruled first choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy out of the Carabao Cup clash with Aston Villa.The German tactician made this known in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday ahead of the game billed for Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
While providing the update on the injury sustained by Senegalese international shot stopper Mendy, Tuchel told reporters that he's optimistic that the former Rennes goalkeeper will return to training on Thursday in time for the big Premier League game at the weekend. Tuchel is hopeful that Mendy would be fit for the league encounter with defending champions Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.
Mendy had been the main man in the Chelsea goal since his big money transfer from French club Rennes last summer. The Blues shot stopper started the first four Premier League games before he sustained an injury while diving during the Champions League opener last week Tuesday. Mendy managed to complete the game after picking up the injury in the 1-0 win at home to Russian Premier League champions Zenit St. Petersburg as the European champions began the defence of their title with a win. Belgian international RomeluLukaku was the recipient of the only goal of the match via a second half header.
The injury from the Zenit game forced Mendy to sit out the London Derby clash with hosts Tottenham Hotspur. He travelled with the Blues but didn't feature in the squad for the game. In his place, Spanish shot stopper KepaArrizabalaga started the Spurs game which ended in a 3-0 win thanks to the goals from Thiago Silva, N'GoloKante and Antonio Rudiger. The big win over Spurs on Sunday propelled Chelsea to joint top on the Premier League standings alongside rivals Liverpool.