Thomas Tuchel has already explained why he dropped Romelu Lukaku for Chelsea vs Lille

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel had already confirmed that the absence of Ben Chilwell and Reece James may have gone some way in his decision to drop Romelu Lukaku for the first leg of the Lille Champions League clash.

Lukaku, 28, has come under severe criticism from the media in the last couple of days after it was revealed that he only made a mere seven touches in the whole of the Crystal Palace win.

"Ha, what can I do? I don't know. Well, now we have to deal with it, the data is out there and speaks a certain language," Tuchel said in his press conference on Monday afternoon.

"He was not involved in our game, it's sometimes like this with strikers. If they struggle a bit with self-confidence, if they struggle a little bit to find the space and to get involved against a defensive side, it can be like this.

"It's of course not what we want and not what Romelu wants, but it's also not the time to laugh about him, make jokes about him. He's in the spotlight of course, and we will protect him."

It was first revealed by The Secret Scout that the manager in question had benched the player who has split opinion amongst the fanbase since the infamous Sky Italia interview, but why has he done this?

Well, alongside giving someone like Timo Werner or Kai Havertz another chance to re-stake their spot back into the first team fold on a regular basis, the absence of key duo Reece James and Ben Chilwell may have well influenced his decision indirectly.

"Maybe both things. Of course, every style changes with long-term injuries to key players. We played the majority of the games with a back three and wing-backs and two of the key wing-backs are Reece and Chilly, who got injured at their peak level," he said when asked about the situation