Chelsea coaches in UAE ‘constantly in contact’ with Covid-stricken Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel will aim to give Chelsea a virtual team-talk ahead of their Club World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

The Blues boss has been unable to join the Blues in Abu Dhabi after testing positive for coronavirus.

The German missed Saturday’s 2-1 FA Cup fourth-round win over Plymouth, watching from home as his side edged out the Pilgrims after extra time.

Tuchel’s assistants Arno Michels and Zsolt Low will take charge for Wednesday’s Club World Cup semi-final against Al Hilal at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, but will be in constant contact with Tuchel.

And the former Borussia Dortmund boss will do his best to deliver a pre-match speech through video technology.

“We’re constantly in contact with Thomas,” first-team coach Low said. “We have a lot of meetings together and we’re video calling all the time, many times in the day.

“We record training and send that to him, we change ideas a lot of times in the day.

“It’s a question for the next hours and the next day, maybe, as to how we can connect Thomas with the team before the match.

During the game we can be in contact with him, on what he sees and what he wants us to do.- Chelsea first-team coach Zsolt Low

“I think in the hotel it might be easier; it might be more difficult at the stadium.

“But also during the game we can be in contact with him, on what he sees and what he wants us to do.

“We have a very, very well structured club at Chelsea, with a lot of support for everybody.

“And (technical director) Petr Cech, for example, has supported us amazingly well in Thomas’ absence.

“We have very good team management, with a lot of support as coaching staff to overcome this situation.

“But Thomas is also supporting us as best he can from a distance.”

Chelsea remain